The new Children's Books website will feature contributions from young people all over the world. Photograph: The Guardian
How far can you trust children to choose their own reading? And, if left to their own devices, will they read at all? These perennially vexing questions have taken on a whole new complexity with the growth of the internet, and its reputation for increasing chatter and diminishing attention span. But research carried out for World Book Day suggests that a growing number of teenagers are using the new technologies not just to chat to friends but for serious reading. From a sample of 505 teens aged between 13 and 18, 40.8% had read a book on a computer, nearly one in five (17.2%) had read one on a mobile phone, and 13.3% on a Tablet or iPad.
Samantha Shipman, who manages the young persons branch of Liverpool's The Reader Organisation (a charity that aims to get people of all ages engaged with reading), says the internet can be a fantastic tool for young readers. "There is a great online resource of poetry, short stories and novels that children and young adults can access easily, cheaply, and enjoy. Anything that encourages young people to read is excellent in my eyes."
The full results of the World Book Day survey will be released on Thursday – the same day that the Guardian launches the first national newspaper books website devoted entirely to young readers.
The Children's Books website will be an adult-free zone, with contributions from an editorial panel of young people (known as curators) from all over the world. So far, 100 have signed up from as far afield as Peru and Egypt, and have been busily at work deciding which books they want to discuss and how to do it.
Our ad hoc research among these 100 pioneers, who we asked to name books they would like to see discussed on the site, paints an impressive picture of the range of their enthusiasms. Cairo, aged 10, who is Scottish but lives in Egypt, said: "My favourite author is Anthony Horowitz. I also like reading Biggles, Asterix, Tintin, the Broons and lots of Star Wars books." Luke, 13, from Nottingham, said: "My favourite modern authors are people like Stephen King, Bill Bryson, Chris Ryan, Andy McNab, Ian Rankin and John Grisham, although I do love classics by people such as Verne, Hugo, Dickens, Maupassant and Dumas. I won't even attempt to name my favourite book, it's impossible!"
The site will be divided into three reading "zones": seven and under, eight to 12 and 13-plus. The question of what to do about the under-sevens, many of whom can't be expected to write their own reviews, posed no problem to 13-year-old Kieran, from Norwich. As the oldest of six, he is used to reading to his younger brothers and sister and is looking forward to reporting their views.
Shipman sounds one note of caution: "If left to their own devices, many children wouldn't read, and that isn't because they dislike reading, it is because they don't recognise it as a worthwhile and enjoyable activity. Once we have got them reading for pleasure, we should trust young people to choose for themselves. It's when they are forced to read books they don't enjoy that they stop reading."
The children's website will be at guardian.co.uk/childrensbooks from Thursday. To get involved, or tell us what you think, email us on childrens.books@guardian.co.uk
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