How Harry Potter has affected children's reading

Has the Harry Potter phenomenon ignited a renewed interest in the reading behaviour of children? If so, which books are children most likely to read and why?

The answer to these questions can be found in USQ Master of Education graduand Peter Munster’s thesis, The Real Magic of Harry Potter.

A self-confessed children’s literature aficionado, Mr Munster said he was interested to see if children were inspired to undertake reading as a regular pastime and in what genres they were interested.

He surveyed a group of Years 6 and 7 primary school students as the basis of his research which investigated reasons why the Harry Potter series was so popular.

 “Recent research has shown that there has been a marked decrease in children’s reading due to the advent of television and computer games,’’ he said.

“Are books like Harry Potter just the latest craze or have they sparked an irreversible resurgence in children’s reading.

“And how can we as parents and educators encourage and nurture children’s interest in reading?”

Mr Munster, who is a USQ Student Systems Officer, said the survey found a significant proportion of children were more interested in reading after reading the Harry Potter books and had since read a number of other titles.

“The books they read after Harry Potter encompassed a wide range of genres and titles and include fantasy, fairy tales, science fiction, historical fiction, realistic fiction and reference books.

“The results also found that more children in the study preferred to read than watch television or play computer games.

“This bodes well for the next generation of book lovers.’’

His study also revealed that the boys surveyed read as a basis for research rather than pleasure.

“However, a significant amount of boys have read a Harry Potter book and are now more interested in reading.

“This indicates that further investigation into ways boys may be encouraged to read for pleasure is needed.’’

Mr Munster will graduate with more than 350 students at the spring graduations at the Empire Theatre in September.

Deborah Marshall marshald@usq.edu.au