Emilie Ackerman

When was the last time you sat down with a book without checking your phone? Today, fewer people turn to reading for pleasure, especially kids and teens, as they are accustomed to consuming short-form content. While reading takes more time for us to understand and absorb information, and more people now see it as a chore, it is important not to completely cancel it from our lives, as it pushes us to think more deeply.

Reading a novel forces us to focus on someone else’s inner world. Studies have shown that it enables us to become more empathetic as we are introduced to situations a character is going through that we may not experience in our own lives. Empathy is the most complex form of attention we can possibly have as it teaches us to understand other people’s emotions. While kids can learn things from TV shows, movies, and TikTok, reading is a different kind of engagement.

As our world has become more technology focused, we are consuming more short-form content than ever before which causes our attention spans to be shorter. I know from my own experience that nowadays when I read, my mind wanders much more easily compared to ten years ago when I read books in middle school. However, for kids growing up in this digital environment, sustained reading feels very unnatural to them as they were born with technology at their fingertips. In order to solve this issue, entertainment studios who create kids content need to closely partner with publishers. Studies have generally shown that when we read things we are interested in, we are more likely to retain it. Since franchises like Descendants, Zombies, and Monster High are popular among kids, books published about the characters and their story arcs would definitely capture their attention as this would keep them interested in reading for more.

As someone who wants to work in children’s / teens entertainment marketing, I know these stories will build kids’ empathy, imagination, and understanding of perspectives in book form. They include themes like embracing uniqueness, acceptance and belonging, and teamwork. While short-form content and movies can still be a great way for kids to be immersed in stories, putting stories like these on text will engrain the messages of these franchises’ themes even more.