Children’s Reading Shows Simultaneous Rise and Decline. How Can That Add Up?

One day we're warned about a sharp decline in children's reading for pleasure. Four days later it's reported that a 9% rise in sales of children's books is the one bright light in a dismal year for publishing. Admittedly the reading for pleasure report comes from the US, but it mirrors years of jeremiads on this side of the Atlantic.

So what is going on? It's likely that, as a YA weepie, John Green's sales have hitched a lift on the reading habits of the twentysomethings who grew up with Harry Potter and so know how bewitching