Much excitement has surrounded the announcement this week that JK Rowling will be reading from the next and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the Natural History Museum from midnight until dawn on the day of its release, 21 July. Nothing could be more appropriate than the surrounding of hundreds of ancient dinosaur bones casting dragon-like shadows across the Hogwartsian architecture of the great museum. The lucky 500 attendees have been chosen by ballot from fans in Britain and Ireland and will include adults because, as a spokesperson for Bloomsbury stated, early readers of the first book could now be in their twenties.
It is interesting to consider how these early readers have developed in terms of their dedication to the books. A recent poll conducted by researchers at Loughborough and Roehampton Universities found Harry Potter to be the favourite book and character amongst more than 4,100 schoolchildren aged from four up to 16. The same survey also revealed that children’s interest in books and reading plummets dramatically as they get older. How many of those children that read the first book in 1997 at, say, the age of 11 will read the final volume of the series at the age of 21?
Girls showed the most marked change in reading habits, with 49.7 per cent of those between four and seven claiming to be enthusiastic readers, dropping to 40.3 per cent of those between seven and eleven, and plummeting to just 24.3 per cent of secondary school children. The figures for boys, however, although showing a less significant change, were substantially lower than girls at all ages.
In fact, the government is so concerned about boys’ depleted interest in reading that they have released a list of books recommended specifically for boys. The list, which was drawn up by librarians from the School Library Association, was launched by the Education Secretary, Alan Johnson on May 16. It contains reference titles such as Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, comic books Scientific Progress Goes ‘Boink’: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Watterson and classics like Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The thinking behind the list has not been universally praised. Journalist Nicholas Lezard questions the likelihood of success from pressing an ‘intimidatingly long list on reluctant potential customers’. Teenage boys, are, after all not known for responding positively to enforced reading, or indeed to any kind of recommended activity. He also questions the benefits of reading at all, asking ‘if they’re not inclined to read, so what?’
Mr Johnson outlines, however, that ‘there is a clear link between reading for pleasure and academic performance – not just in English, but across the whole curriculum… Beyond this, of course, reading can enrich their lives by freeing their imagination, inspiring creativity and developing intellectual curiosity.’
It comes as no surprise that children are distracted by other media particularly the television, the internet and gaming. It is a surprise, however, to learn that the often archaic book industry is tackling these distractions by sophisticated viral marketing methods. In the US, for example, Canongate is trying to build hype around Steven Hall’s new novel, The Raw Shark Texts by creating a covert online treasure hunt that’s part contest and part video game.
Tad Floridis, Associate Publisher of Canongate US relates that ‘we’re trying to tap into this community of gamers and online puzzle players,’ adding that ‘this is not necessarily the traditional fiction-buying community, but I think it’s a community that would be interested in the ideas in Steven’s book.’
Another unusually forward-thinking development in the book industry is the availability of classic books sent in bite-size chunks via email. The emails will be provided by www.dailylit.com and are designed to be read in under five minutes. ‘Our audience includes people like us, who spend hours each day on e-mail but can’t find the time to read a book,’ DailyLit co-founder Albert Wenger said. The concept seems ideal for busy businessmen and internet-addicted teens alike.
Meanwhile, however, while discussion about boys’ interest in reading grows and publishers wrack their brains over how to reach the male customer, one book continues to brook the trend. The Dangerous Book for Boys, already a hit in the UK is now making huge waves in the US market.
Paul Bogaards, a publishing executive says he took a copy home to his eight-year-old son, Michael, whom he describes as ‘junked up on Nick, Disney and Club Penguin’. Michael, apparently, loved the book and demanded that his dad test paper airplanes into the night, even missing ‘American Idol’.
So perhaps the answer to encouraging children and particularly boys to read doesn’t lie in complex new marketing methods or advancements in technological dissemination. The Dangerous Book for Boys is old-fashioned, maintains a nostalgic and non-technological sensibility and is aimed at notoriously book-shy boys around the age of ten. Perhaps the book industry needs to become less self-consciously modern and to rely on the age-old ingredients that have guaranteed success to myriad classics, including that other trend-breaker, Harry Potter: a galloping plot and an inherent sense of adventure.
