National Endowment of the Arts - The Big Read

Publications

The National Endowment for the Arts has released the following Big Read-related publications. Click on the thumbnail to download a PDF of the publication. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files.

 

Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy
Reading on the Rise documents a definitive increase in rates and numbers of American adults who read literature. This new growth reverses two decades of downward trends cited previously in NEA reports such as Reading at Risk and To Read or Not To Read. Reading on the Rise is based on early results from the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. [847KB PDF]
Reading at Risk Executive Summary Reading at Risk Executive Summary
This document presents a summary of the results from the literature segment of the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, conducted by the Census Bureau in 2002 at the NEA's request. The survey asked more than 17,000 adults if during the previous 12 months they had read any literature that was not required for work or school. The results of this survey sparked The Big Read. [1.2MB PDF]
To Read or Not To Read Executive Summary

To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence
Executive Summary

This report is a comprehensive analysis of reading patterns of children, teenagers, and adults in the United States. Assembling data on reading trends from more than 40 sources, this compendium expands the investigation of the NEA's landmark 2004 report, Reading at Risk, and exposes trends that may have severe consequences for American society. [818KB PDF]

 

To order a hard copy of any of the above publications, or to view additional publications from the NEA's Literature department, visit the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Publications website.

 

The Big Read


© Arts Midwest