Overwhelmingly, our kid panelists ages seven to 12 say they prefer to sit down and really dive into a book, rather than flipping through a magazine. But as they age up into the early teen bracket, kids' reading habits tend to increasingly embrace the "quick peruse" offered by mags as easier to fit into a hectic lifestyle. When younger kids do read magazines, their picks include National Geographic for Kids, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Teen People, Nintendo Power, YM, Seventeen, Mad Magazine and Chickdee/Owl. The teens have a much wider range of magazines. Teen girls tend to stick with magazines firmly targeting their age group such as Cosmo Girl, Seventeen, YM and Twist while teen boys focus more on activity specific magazines aimed at teens and adults, such as Sports Illustrated, Car and Driver, Snowboarder and Rolling Stone.
As far as books go, nearly all kids put Harry Potter at the top of their fave book lists. But beyond that monolith, genre tastes tend to diverge along gender lines, with girls going for reality-based titles like Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by popular pre-teen girl author Judy Blume, Letters to Julia by Barbara Ware Holmes and the classic Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. Boys, meanwhile, are drawn to fantasy/action-adventure tomes such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel and the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. By the time kids grow into teens it's a lot harder to summarize their faves in a few titles. Popular titles are as diverse as the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Golden Compass Trilogy by Philip Pullman, Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence, Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison and the Fearless series by Francine Pascal.
Word-of-mouth recommendations from friends echo loudly as the most trusted source for learning about new books, with teachers, librarians, posters at school, book stores and magazines getting some nods as good secondary influences. Most kid reading material comes from the library, which kids visit once a week on average, borrowing more than one book at a time. But our panelists say they also love to spend time reading at book stores along the lines of Chapter's/Indigo (Canada) and Barnes and Noble (U.S.), which provide comfy couches and chairs that encourage lingering.
But kids' penchant for hanging out at book retailers doesn't necessarily mean they are shelling out for new books, which are still largely purchased by mom and dad. Kids aren't buying their own magazines either, with parents again footing the bill (unless it's a school copy), but mags tend to be picked up at a wider array of retail outlets that includes drugstores, grocery stores, book stores and by subscription. Magazines are the major source of reading for teens though and they are in control of those purchase decisions, which may explain the explosion of new magazine titles aimed at the teen market (eg. Elle Girl, Cosmo Girl, Teen People and MH-18).
Kids have very clear ideas about what they don't want to see in a book or magazine: adult content like swearing, racism, nudity, violence, drugs and sexism. But don't go too far in the other direction either-they'll run the other way if they think a book has too much baby stuff, which they define as fairy tales, baby animals and slow moving or simple stories.
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Insight: Kids prefer books to magazines, libraries to bookstores, and word of mouth to targeted book ads. Publishers wanting to reach the youth market need to go through the schools and connect with the power of viral marketing. As kids turn into teens the crunch on their free time often limits their reading to magazines but their control over their own spending does present opportunities to marketers wanting to reach this key demographic.
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For more information:
- The Children's Literature Web Guides is a good starting place to find out what information is available on children's and young adult books, libraries, awards, publishers and resources for parents, teachers and authors. Please note - the site has not been updated since 2001 (or 1999 in some places).
- One of the resources referred to in the Children's Literature Web Guide is The Canadian Children's Book Centre
- For a list of all-time best selling children's books (all ages, hardcover and paperback) check out Publisher's Weekly
- What is viral marketing? Read this article from the venture capital firm which claims to have coined the term in 1997: What is Viral Marketing
To find out more about Reactorz contact us online at www.reactorzresearch.com. Or call 416-516-0705.
Reactorz is a youth-powered research engine. Our online community of kids ages 7 to 22 provide their opinion and insight into current events, issues, creative & product design, entertainment and communications strategies. Reactorz parent company Big Orbit gathers this information and empowers clients by connecting them with this target group through strategic consulting and creative development. For over a decade, Big Orbit has worked with corporate, government and non-profit organizations such as: Kraft Canada, Junior Achievement of Canada, Concerned Children's Advertisers and Key Porter Books. For a complete list of clients and case studies please visit BigOrbit.com or ReactorzResearch.com.
