Children are reading celebrity gossip magazines such as Heat and Bliss instead of books, especially if the novels stretch to more than 100 pages, a study shows.
Boys and girls as young as 11 said they preferred absorbing the exploits of pop stars and models such as Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss to reading books by Jacqueline Wilson or Philip Pullman.
One literacy expert said those children who chose to read such magazines - Heat is aimed at an adult audience - and to surf the internet instead of reading books were damaging their development.
Others argued children should be encouraged to read whatever they liked, as long as they were reading.
The National Year of Reading study found Shakespeare was given short shrift by the children questioned, as were "books I am made to read by my teachers".
Instead, they preferred to read song lyrics on the internet, their own online blogs and film scripts. Four out of the top 10 choices for reading were online.
JK Rowling's Harry Potter series was the most popular set of books on the list, followed by Anne Frank's Diary, books by Anthony Horowitz and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis.
Sue Palmer, a literacy consultant, said reading such books helped to develop a child's brain.
"There is research that shows one of the best indicator of future academic success is how much children are reading by the age of 16," she said.
"The trouble with reading magazines and reading online is that you don't get the narrative thread of a story in the same way.
"By reading a book you are building up the stamina to absorb words for a longer period of time. What you are doing is gradually locking brains with the author, which you do not really do in quite the same way when you read chunks of a magazine or chunks of text on a screen.
"This personal interaction going on in your head is the thing that's special about reading a book and the pleasure of that is what, in the end, turns someone into a reader."
The Read up, Fed Up survey asked 1,340 children aged between 11 and 14 to list their 10 favourite and 10 least favourite things to read.
Homework was the most unpopular subject matter, followed by Shakespeare, encyclopaedias and dictionaries. Teenagers also said they were tired of reading about the size of thin celebrities, did not favour The Beano, the classic comic, and were unimpressed with Facebook, the social networking site.
The survey also revealed 45 per cent had been told off by adult for enjoying something that was not "proper" reading.
Honor Wilson-Fletcher, the director of the National Year of Reading, said: "We should all appreciate that many young people are reading creatively.
"Teens are challenging our traditional definitions of reading as being all about books, but reading enthusiastically nonetheless."
Jim Knight, the schools minister, said: "It is vital that young people have the opportunity to read widely. It is wonderful that 80 per cent of the teenagers surveyed wrote their own stories and kept up-to-date with current affairs by using sites such as BBC Online.
"It's wonderful that Anne Frank's Diary is still proving so popular among teenagers."
Modern writing, and the literature it produces, means that the so-called classics like The Mayor of Casterbridge or Jane Eyre (and even Lord of the Rings) would not be accepted for publication these days. I'd recommend The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold), The Doomsday Book (Connie Willis), The Talisman (King & Straub), and the Split Infinity trilogy (Piers Anthony).
As a child, The Magic Faraway Tree and The Secret Island by Enid Blyton. As an adult Lord of the Rings Trilogy The Kite Runner
there is great website to help new readers...www.readingzone.com and www.turn2page1.com
Harry Potter!!! By JK Rowling of course! Narnia by CS Lewis Lord of the Rings by Tolkien Tqilight by Stephenie Meyer Guardians of Time Triology, and Old Magic by Marianne Curley. If you like Harry Potter and Twilight, I would really recommend it! Books about Magic, and Fantasy.. And a LOT more.. :P Harry Potter was on both the fed- up and read-up list:P ( more info on Harry Potter, Twilight and Guardians of time on my site!) ~Lily Luna
Fattipuffs and Thinnifers Biggles series Jennings series Stig of the Dump
My little brother is 15, and has never been very good at reading and writing. Since he has got interested in Bebo,and the internet, it has all improved. People forget you need to know how to read and write to interact online. But we do need to remember that all kids are not like this. My 9 year old daughter has been reading books with more than 500 pages since she was 7.
They can read??? That does surprise me. It doesn't matter what they read as long as they practice reading and understand what they are reading within the context of the read magazine's scope. Gossip and celebrity magazines - I think they're absolute tosh but they do stimulate conversation (as well as sales). So long as they're not harming themselves and others, people should let children read what they will and gently guide them toward more educational material where and when needed. Many people complain that they've never needed to use Pythagoras' Theorem, well, how many have needed to use "To be, or not to be: that is the question:"? I think the classics are much over-rated. Some are interesting and eloquently written but we shouldn't force them onto children without first stoking their fire for them and teaching them to read fluidly and understand the written word so that they may enjoy them. BTW - I'm one of the few who do use and appreciate Pythagoras' Theorem, Pi and trig when needs arise.
The Biggles and Gimlet books by Capt WE Johns - a real read!
Sanders of the River.
The Promised One by David Alric - a modern classic.
When I was a boy, my parents used to make me read "The Diary of Ann Frank". I thought it was boring. She never went anywhere but stopped in all day.
Mein Kampf.
Thomas the tank Engine was a favourite of my youngest son. I adapted and changed the stories to feature him and local railway stations. 20-odd years later and my first grandson was also enthralled to hear Thomas stories featuring himself. Now my second grandson, though only 5 months old is responding well to Thomas DVDs and will be soon the star of my adapted stories. Funnily enough, my daughter - now 31 - and my grand-daughter - 5 - both loved Mr Magnolia. Who had only one boot, etc.
Enid Blyton's 'Magic Faraway Tree'. Imaginative and wonderful.
Biggles, until the PC mob condemned him to the outer darkness.
'The Gruffalo's Child' by Julia Donaldson. Somehow it is better than the 'The Gruffalo'. The Walter the Farting Dog series (Kotzwinkle & Murray) is also brilliant - also in Latin. For classics - Danny The Champion of the World by Roald Dahl for 8-80. For younger-than-8, Goodnight Moon is a near perfect bed-time book.
Anything by G. A. Henty, for example: "To Herat and Cabul, A Story of the First Afghan War" "Condemned as a Nihilist, A Story of Escape from Siberia" "By Sheer Pluck, A Tale of the Ashanti War" "Held Fast for England, A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779 - 83)" All excellent reads, from an outstanding canon, for impressionable young minds.
Rebeccas World - Terry Nation (I think).
The Woolpack by Cynthia Harnett was my favourite and I have just reread it. Excellent.
Aliens love Underpants - by Claire Fredman & Ben Cort - Tears of laughter every time we read it.
Some Silent Hero
As a child I liked Treasure Island. I suspect I still would if I read it again.
I read The Water Babies and Bambi when I was 6 and reread them with much emotion for years and then I had the same experience reading them to my own children.
The Wind in the Willows
Team Telegraph, Poems and poetry, Ryhmes and riddles, Fairy and folks tales. Classic history Classic english literatures Uncle Arthur's bedtime stories. With the miracles and wonders. These are good for the little ones. Decode this lyrics "Let your love grow" With time, creativity and imagination will grow up to be a "Better man" in time. Not politics of modern history of failures and horros of the past. Filled with empty skeleton of skull and bones from the graveyards of different ghostly ancestor's culture and custom. Politics for little children while still growing up? The blunders and slip-ups with human errors in kicking the butts of our own little ones without being aware of it with all the mess out there. Luke 9.25,55-56,60 What do you think?