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Almost half of 6-8 year olds read daily. Only a quarter of 15-17 year olds do.

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Almost half of 6-8 year olds read daily. Only a quarter of 15-17 year olds do.

May 20 2014

A new report by Common Sense Media based on a number of different studies concludes that US reading rates drop precipitously from childhood to the tween and teenage years: "One study documents a drop from 48% of 6- to 8-year-olds down to 24% of 15- to 17-year-olds who are daily readers; another shows a drop from 53% of 9-year-olds to 19% of 17-year-olds. According to government studies, since 1984, the percent of 13-year-olds who are weekly readers went down from 70% to 53%, and the percent of 17-year-olds who are weekly readers went from 64% to 40%. The percent of 17-year-olds who never or hardly ever read tripled during this period, from 9% to 27%." A gender gap also exists, with girls reading for pleasure an average of 10 minutes more per day than boys.

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