A rebirth for reading: Hollywood turns movie buffs into enthusiastic readers

JK Rowling and her Harry Potter phenomenon were the start of something great for the educators, parents, and authors working diligently to spark some sort of passion for books in the hearts of the world’s distracted, technology drunk preteens and teens. The age old uphill battle to turn kids on to the wonder of reading had taken a fantastic step forward, ironically by a book so big, it would be terribly difficult for its young reader to carry up a hill.

As of 2008 the Harry Potter book series has sold more that 400 million copies, has been translated in to 67 languages and the books have consecutively set records as the fastest selling books in history. Rowling was named runner up for Time magazine’s Person of the Year award, noting moral, social and political inspiration.

When the Harry Potter movies were released not only did current fans rush to the theatre, they brought with them friends who had not read the 700+ page books and the hype spread easily to the young hold outs. Kids who were intimidated by the sheer task of taking on such a physically big book, found they were inhaling the story easily and literature won another victory in the heart of the reluctant reader.

Just when the industry thought the passion for reading was going to have to thrive on it’s own, Stephenie Meyer released Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse and there was a collective thump as their young hearts waited for each new story.

To do their part to keep the love affair between leisure reading and reluctant readers alive, US libraries have made a huge effort to welcome young adults and teens, by maintaining separate shelving sections for them. Paula Brehm-Heeger, (the 2007-2008 President of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association) said, “recently many libraries have worked to enhance these sections so that they are really “spaces” or “destinations” for teens to visit. These spaces include comfortable furniture, technology and group work space. A great example is Phoenix Public Library’s award-winning Teen Central.”
"Kids are buying books in quantities we’ve never seen before and publishers are courting young adults in ways we haven’t seen since the 1940s. We are right smack-dab in the new golden age of young adult literature," said Booklist magazine critic Michael Cart.

“I have been so thrilled to see my genera, that catered to a relatively small group of specific teens in the past, breaking wide open and getting exposure to a much larger audience that maybe didn’t know there was something on the bookshop shelves for them. Stephenie Meyer’s success has been a light shed on a whole genera,” said London based author Nikki Garriques, who writes under the name Kia Storm.

"It is nice to see teens, that were formerly too busy with YouTube and MySpace to read anything of substance, coming back to the bookstores and libraries hungry for entertainment. Hollywood has done a good thing, maybe unknowingly, but it has,” added Garriques.

Nikki Garriques is a native London author who has published twelve short stories published. For more information on Nikki and her work, visit http://kiastorm.blogspot.com/.

To Read The story please visit: http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/blog/2010/07/21/a-rebirth-for-reading-hollywood-turns-movie-buffs-into-enthusiastic-readers/