From: Mason, John <JMason>
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2004 10:35:22 -0400

Norma Jean makes a good point when she comments that reading was an "elitist" activity when the country was founded...perhaps regarded as a means to gain the vote and get ahead. None of us wants reading to go back to being "elitist." However, according to an article in yesterday's New York Times, that's exactly what's happening today, unfortunately. (The article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/08/books/08READ.html ) The difference is that today, now that reading is no longer a requirement for voting, the trend toward reading being an "elitist" activity is happening at the same time as voter apathy among the general population - and especially among young people, sad to say - is on the increase. One note of optimism in the article - in the last paragraph, it notes that "juvenile titles" were part of an increase in sales, despite the overall decline in literary reading. Nevertheless the article shows what an uphill battle we are fighting in this culture, and how retention of young readers - converting them to lifelong readers - is all the more an important part of our mission.
 

John Mason, Director of Library and Educational Marketing Scholastic Inc., Trade Book Group 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012999 Phone (212) 389770 Fax (212) 389063 Email: jmason at scholastic.com
Received on Fri 09 Jul 2004 09:35:22 AM CDT