Reaching Today’s Kids
● How are children’s book publishers responding to the trend of children becoming “teenagers” at a much earlier age?
Lisa Holton: It’s very interesting to see what kids are actually reading, in terms of understanding whether that trend is true. At Scholastic, we have a wonderful way of looking at what kids are reading, not only through the books they buy through all of the independent bookstores and various other bookstores, but also through our own book clubs and book fairs. While it’s certainly true kids are using advanced technological stuff, like cell phones and computers and games, there’s still a very wide range of reading interest. So that we find, depending on who they are and what their sophistication level and … reading level is, some are, at a much earlier age, ready for our specific teenage line.