International Literacy Day: Get Kids Reading with 4 Big Ideas from 4 Countries

NEW YORK, Sept. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tomorrow is International Literacy Day ( September 8) and in celebration, Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children's publishing, education and media company, is providing universal tips that can help children everywhere become lifelong readers. Compiled from data gathered for the Kids & Family Reading Report™ U.S., U.K., Australia and India editions, the survey of both children and their parents revealed four key, actionable themes: "the power of choice," "reading aloud," "parent reading role modeling" and the "desire for books that make kids laugh."

To learn more and download the exclusive infographic, visit: www.scholastic.com/readingreport.

The call to action is in response to data in each country's Kids & Family Reading Report, which indicates that on average only one in three kids read books for fun 5-7 days a week. To help more kids discover the power and joy of reading, parents and caregivers can:

1. Let children choose their books: About 9 in 10 children ages 6–17 say they are more likely to finish reading a book that "I have picked out myself" (90% U.S., 89% Australia, 86% India, and 84% U.K.).
2. Continue to read aloud – and often: Children ages 6–17 reported they love (or loved) read aloud time at home (86% Australia, 85% India, 83% U.S., and 83% U.K.) and the top reason was "it's a special time with my parent." While parents often stop reading aloud at age six, many kids ages 6–11 who were read books aloud to at home wanted reading aloud to continue (57% India, 40% U.S., 36% Australia, and 31% U.K.).
3. Be a reading role model: In each country, a powerful predictor of kids' reading frequency is having a parent who personally reads and/or reads aloud to their child 5–7 days a week.
4. Find funny reads: "Make me laugh" is the #1 characteristic kids look for when picking out a book to read for fun (70% U.S., 63% U.K., 62% India, and 61% Australia).

"Giving kids the chance to find the books they want to read is crucial to helping them associate reading with fun," said  Dav Pilkey , international bestselling creator of the phenomenally popular Captain Underpants series and the new Dog Man graphic novel series. "Choice is important because it is what changed me to become a lifelong reader."

Results are from representative surveys conducted online and in English, managed by the third-party global research firm YouGov (http://research.yougov.com). In each country, at least 1,000 parents of children ages 0–17 and at least 695 children ages 6–17 were surveyed. For a full, detailed methodology for the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report U.S., U.K., Australia, and India editions, visit www.scholastic.com/readingreport.

For more information about Scholastic, visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com.

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SOURCE Scholastic Inc.