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World Book Day survey reveals teen reading habits

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3 March 2011

For immediate release Thursday 3 March 2011
World Book Day survey reveals teen reading habits
www.worldbookday.com
• The Lord of the Rings and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are the top books for teens across the generations
• Harry Potter heroine Hermione Granger and Twilight teen wolf Jacob Black are top book crush for teenagers, while adults lusted after Mr Darcy and Lady Chatterley
• For both the majority of adults and teenagers, books are their favourite reading material
A survey to mark World Book Day 2011, the UK’s largest celebration of books and reading, has uncovered the reading habits of teenagers over the last 50 years. To tie in with a new campaign to get teenagers reading, World Book Day has asked adults about their reading habits as teenagers, and compared them to teenagers today.
The survey reveals the top 10 books enjoyed by teenagers now and in the past. The favourite read of adult respondents when they were teenagers was The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, while the Harry Potter series is the overwhelming favourite for teenagers today, favourite for almost a third of respondents. The Lord of the Rings, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Diary of Anne Frank and 1984 are the four titles that feature in both the top 10 of teenagers today and of adults when they were teenagers, showing the enduring popularity of these classic novels.
Top 10 books most enjoyed by adults when they were teenagers
1. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, by Sue Townsend 10.2% 2. The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien 9.5% 3. Novels by Stephen King 8.2% 4. Novels by Agatha Christie 7.6% 5. = The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams 6.1% 5. = The James Bond novels by Ian Fleming 6.1% 5. = 1984, by George Orwell 6.1% 8. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë 5.3% 9. The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank 5.2% 10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee 4.2%
Top 10 favourite books of teenagers today
1. The Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling 30.5% 2. The Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer 14.1%
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 9.
The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien 9.1% The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown 5.1% The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams 4.6% The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time, by Mark Haddon 4.0% Noughts & Crosses, by Malorie Blackman 3.8% The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank 3.2% = 1984, by George Orwell 2.2% = The His Dark Materials trilogy, by Phillip Pullman 2.2%
In the confess that the book characters they would have most liked to have gone on a date with as a teenager were Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, and Lady Chatterley. Teenagers today chose Harry Potter heroine Hermione Granger and teen wolf Jacob Black from the Twilight series. Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice and Arwen from The Lord of the Rings bridge the generation gap and appear in the top 5 and top 10 of both lists respectively.
survey teenagers and adults also reveal their top teen book crushes. Adults
Top 10 book characters that adults would most have liked to go on a date were teenagers
1. Mr Darcy, from Pride and Prejudice 2. Lady Chatterley, from Lady Chatterley’s Lover 3. James Bond, from the James Bond novels 4. Mr Darcy, from Bridget Jones’s Diary 5. Miss Moneypenny, from the James Bond novels 6. Aragorn, from The Lord of the Rings 7. Heathcliff, from Wuthering Heights 8. Arwen, from The Lord of the Rings 9. Rhett Butler, from Gone with the Wind 10. Cathy, from Wuthering Heights
with when they
11.9% 9.5% 8.8% 7.3% 6.3% 6.1% 5.9% 4.2% 3.9% 3.4%
Top ten book characters that teenagers today would most like to go on a date with
1. Hermione Granger, from the Harry Potter series 23.0% 2. Jacob Black, from the Twilight series 14.1% 3. Edward Cullen, from the Twilight series 9.9% 4. Mary-Jane Parker, from the Spider-Man graphic novels 6.5% 5. Mr Darcy, from Pride and Prejudice 5.9% 6. Arwen, from The Lord of the Rings 5.5% 7. Robbie the Sex God, from the Georgia Nicolson series 5.3% 8. Tracy Beaker, from the Tracy Beaker series 4.6% 9. Prince Caspian, from the Chronicles of Narnia series 3.8% 10. Sophie Neveu, from The Da Vinci Code 3.2%
30.1% of teenagers confess to reading only a couple of books each year, and just 18.6% of teenagers read a book a week. On the contrary, 37.2% of adults claim to have read a book a week as a teenager, and just 16.4% used to read only a couple of books a year. Positively, 58.1% of adults feel they read the same amount or more now compared to when they were teenagers.
The survey shows evidence of 21st century teens embracing technology to read their books. 40.8% of teenagers surveyed have read a book on a computer and 17.2% have read a book on a mobile phone. 13.3% of teenagers have embraced the very latest and up-to-the-minute technologies and have read a book on a Tablet or iPad, and 9.3% on an e-reader.
When adults and teenagers were asked which media they currently enjoy reading most, books came first with the overwhelming majority. 64.2% of adults prefer to read books above magazines, newspapers, websites and blogs, comics and graphic novels, and e-
books. 50.5% of teenagers also prefer books. Having grown up with modern technologies, websites and blogs are more popular amongst teenagers than adults.
Rachel Russell, Chair of World Book Day 2011, and Business Unit Director for Books at WHSmith said: “In the year that World Book Day is focusing on helping teenagers celebrate books and reading, it’s interesting to see what tastes and traits young readers today share with readers of the past. Our results show that in a world of digital media teenagers still love books, and are enjoying classics novels as well as contemporary bestsellers. It would be interesting to see answers to the same questions from teenagers in another generation’s time”.
To coincide with this survey World Book Day has launched a public campaign to find out the nation’s favourite book crush. Follow World Book Day on Twitter where we will reveal the book crushes of celebrities (available to press on request), and tweet us your own book crush @WorldBookDayUK #bookcrush.
This survey was carried out to coincide with a new teen initiative led by World Book Day to encourage teenagers to read. This year World Book Day has launched a new website www.digi-tale.co specifically targeted at teenagers, where teenagers can download a digi-tale written by popular author Louise Rennison, How to make any twit fall in love with you. The site also includes interviews, readings, trailers and talks, as well as games to play, free downloads, event listings and a ‘what to read’ guide
Ends –
Notes to Editors World Book Day Survey
The World Book Day survey was carried out by Opinion Matters between 28/01/2011 and 03/02/2011. 1,583 adults and 505 teenagers aged 13-18 in the UK were surveyed. Each age group answered five different questions.
Survey questions
Adults were asked: Which of the following books/ writers did you most enjoy as a teenager? (tick one) How much did you read when you were a teenager? (tick one) How much do you read now in comparison to when you were a teenager? (tick one) Which of the following [mediums] do you enjoy reading most? (tick one) Which of the following book characters would you have liked to go on a date with as a teenager? (tick one)
Teenagers were asked: Which is your favourite book/ series from the following list? (tick one) How much do you read? (tick one) Which of the following [mediums] do you enjoy reading most? (tick one) Have you ever read a book on any of the following electronic devices? (tick as many as apply) Which of the following book characters would you most like to go on a date with? (tick one)
Survey results Top 10 books most enjoyed by adults when they were teenagers
1. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, by Sue Townsend 10.2% 2. The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien 9.5% 3. Novels by Stephen King 8.2% 4. Novels by Agatha Christie 7.6% 5. = The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams 6.1% 5. = The James Bond novels by Ian Fleming 6.1% 5. = 1984, by George Orwell 6.1% 8. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë 5.3%
9. The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank 5.2% 10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee 4.2%
Top 10 favourite books of teenagers today
1. The Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling 30.5% 2. The Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer 14.1% 3. The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien 9.1% 4. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown 5.1% 5. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams 4.6% 6. The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time, by Mark Haddon 4.0% 7. Noughts & Crosses, by Malorie Blackman 3.8% 8. The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank 3.2% 9. = 1984, by George Orwell 2.2% 9. = The His Dark Materials trilogy, by Phillip Pullman 2.2%
Top 10 book characters that adults would most have liked to go on a date with when they were teenagers
1. Mr Darcy, from Pride and Prejudice 11.9% 2. Lady Chatterley, from Lady Chatterley’s Lover 9.5% 3. James Bond, from the James Bond novels 8.8% 4. Mr Darcy, from Bridget Jones’s Diary 7.3% 5. Miss Moneypenny, from the James Bond novels 6.3% 6. Aragorn, from The Lord of the Rings 6.1% 7. Heathcliff, from Wuthering Heights 5.9% 8. Arwen, from The Lord of the Rings 4.2% 9. Rhett Butler, from Gone with the Wind 3.9% 10. Cathy, from Wuthering Heights 3.4%
Top ten book characters that teenagers today would most like to go on a date with
1. Hermione Granger, from the Harry Potter series 2. Jacob Black, from the Twilight series 3. Edward Cullen, from the Twilight series 4. Mary-Jane Parker, from the Spider-Man graphic novels 5. Mr Darcy, from Pride and Prejudice
6. Arwen, from The Lord of the Rings 7. Robbie the Sex God, from the Georgia Nicolson series 8. Tracy Beaker, from the Tracy Beaker series 9. Prince Caspian, from the Chronicles of Narnia series 10. Sophie Neveu, from The Da Vinci Code
How much adults read when they were teenagers
23.0% 14.1% 9.9% 6.5% 5.9% 5.5% 5.3% 4.6% 3.8% 3.2%
A book a week A book a month A couple of books a year Books for school/ college only Other Not at all
How much teenagers read today
A couple of books a year A book a month A book a week Books for school/ college only Not at all
Other How much adults read today compared with when they were teenagers
37.2% 25.1% 16.4% 10% 7.2% 4%
Male Less 41.9% 44.1% More 30.3% 27.5%
30.1% 24.0% 18.6% 14.7% 7.9% 4.8%
32.4% 16.8% 15.2% 18.9% 12.7% 4.1%
Male 29.2% 27.2% 18.3% 13.9% 4.7% 6.7%
Male
Female 42.6% 23.8% 15.2% 7.3% 8.9% 2.2%
Female
28.0% 30.7% 21.8% 10.7% 3.4% 5.4%
Female 40.5% 32.1%
Same 27.8% 28.4% 27.4% Which electronic devices teenagers have read a book on (they could choose more than one) Have never read a book on any of these 43.2%
Computer Mobile phone Tablet/ iPad E-reader
The mediums adults enjoy reading most
Books Magazines Newspapers Websites/ blogs None of these E-books Comics/ Graphic novels
40.8% 17.2% 13.3% 9.3%
today
64.2% 13.1% 10.6% 5.7% 3.3% 2.1% 0.8%
The mediums teenagers today enjoy reading most
Books 50.5% Magazines 22.8% Websites/ blogs 9.3% Comics/ graphic novels 6.7% Newspapers 6.7% E-books 2.2% None of the above 1.8%
World Book Day
• World Book Day, Thursday 3 March 2011, is the biggest annual celebration of books and reading in the UK. Further information about World Book Day can be found at www.worldbookday.com. The dedicated teen website: www.digi-tale.co is a stand-alone site managed by World Book Day.
• World Book Day £1 Book Tokens are distributed to all primary school children in the UK and Republic of Ireland, and offered to secondary schools and pre-school organisations who register (while stocks last). Over the past decade, over 130 million £1 World Book Day Book Tokens have been distributed to schools.
• The £1 World Book Day Book Token can be redeemed from 28 February to 27 March inclusive at participating bookshops. Minimum redemption £2.99, one transaction per token, can be put towards any book or audio book of the purchaser’s choice. In the Republic of Ireland, the World Book Day Token will be to the value of €1.50 and the minimum redemption is €3.99.
• National Book Tokens has been the proud sponsor of World Book Day for over 10 years.
National Book Tokens are accepted in bookshops across the UK and Ireland, including all major chains and local independents. £23 million of National Book Tokens are sold every year.
National Book Tokens is committed to promoting literacy and the enjoyment of reading through its work with World Book Day and Quick Reads.
For more information on National Book Tokens go to www.nationalbooktokens.com • Specially produced World Book Day £1 books, suitable for ages 0 - 11+ years, are
published on World Book Day and available in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
• World Book Day is supported by The Booksellers Association of GB and Ireland and The Publishers Association. The Booksellers Association website www.booksellers.org.uk provides a list and details of all its members, so you can check which bookshops are participating in your area before travelling to make your purchase. Most large chains and many independent booksellers are participating.
• For the sixth year ten Quick Reads books will be published on World Book Day. Aimed at the 13 million adults who have lost the reading habit or have difficulty reading, 2011’s Quick Reads will include books by James Patterson, poet Benjamin Zephaniah and ex- python Terry Jones. More information on www.quickreads.org.uk
• Book Aid International is the nominated charity for funds raised on World Book Day. Book Aid International knows that books change lives. It is one of the world's foremost library development and book donation charities. Last year, half a million new books were sent to over 2,000 libraries in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The books were sent to libraries in communities, schools and universities, rural villages, refugee camps, prisons and slums, helping adults and children alike to gain access to the information that they need. They also provide support to their partners which enhance the use of those books in both educational and community settings such as librarian training and library refurbishment and grants to purchase books locally. Book Aid International is funded entirely by voluntary donations. For more information about Meet, Talk, Give contact Anne Race on 020 7326 5826 or anne.race@bookaid.org
• For more information about the Blue Peter Book Awards please contact Sarah Jones at Book Trust on sarah.jones@booktrust.org.uk or 0208 516 2960.
• Spokespeople for the World Book Day campaign and authors are available for interview through Colman Getty.
• World Book Day logos, photographs and book visuals are available from Colman Getty. • More information about World Book Day is also available from the WBD website
www.worldbookday.com
• The World Book Day tradition began in Catalonia, Spain, where people celebrate St George’s Day by giving a book and a rose to loved ones (St George is also the patron saint of Catalonia).
For further information about World Book Day please contact Sarah Watson or Matt Railton at Colman Getty Consultancy Email: sarah@colmangetty.co.uk or matt@colmangetty.co.uk
For information about Quick Reads please contact: Hannah Blake at Colman Getty on Tel: 020 7631 2666 Email: hannah@colmangetty.co.uk Fax: 020 7631 2699