READING FOR PLEASURE BUILDS EMPATHY IN CHILDREN, BUT FEWER KIDS ARE PICKING UP BOOKS JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

ORONO, Maine, July 7 -- University of Maine issued the following news release:

By William Dee Nichols

Professor of Literacy, Language and Culture, University of Maine

And Michelle Kearney

Professor of Literacy, University of Maine

The following article was first published in The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news organization that shares faculty expert analysis with a global audience.

Reading allows children to live in a vibrant world, surrounded by fairies, elves and talking animals, transporting them to places where the impossible becomes real. But reading for pleasure also helps children learn more effectively and broadens how they view, interpret and interact with the world. It gives them a form of expression that fuels t...