The night-walkers of Uganda

Find words in the box to match the definitions below.
celebrity scandal favourite gossip cheats
blog
fan fiction literature skinny current affairs

___________________: a ‘web log’, like a diary on the Internet, that anyone can read

___________________: untrue stories about popular stars and famous people
___________________: unfair ways to win a game or pass a test 
___________________: somebody who is often in the news or on TV, like a pop star or actor 
___________________: the one you like best
___________________: important things happening now
___________________: a situation that everybody thinks is terrible or wrong
___________________: talking about other people’s private lives
___________________: very, very thin 
___________________: books, plays and poems that people think are very well written
Now read the article and check.
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Celebrity scandal and Anne Frank: the 
reading diary of British teenagers
Shakespeare and homework lose out as 
Internet competes with books and magazines for 
attention of young readers 
Mark Brown, arts correspondent
March 27, 2008
Many parents won’t like it, but a report published
today shows young teenagers’ favourite reading
is Heat magazine. Parents may be happier to
see that Anne Frank’s diary, books by Anthony
Horowitz and CS Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe are also in the top ten.
The celebrity gossip and news magazine comes
top when 11 to 14-year-olds are asked to name
their favourite read. This is followed by teenage
girls’ magazine Bliss, which comes joint second
with reading song lyrics online. They are followed
by reading computer game cheats advice online,
and then reading your own blog or fan fiction. 
The first books in the list are the Harry Potter 
series at number five. But not all teenagers 
agree, because Harry Potter is also number eight
in the most hated reading material top ten.
The results are in a report called Read Up, Fed
Up: Exploring Teenage Reading Habits in the UK
Today, as part of the National Year of Reading,
which Gordon Brown set up in January.
Other books on the favourites list are Anne
Frank’s diary at number six, Anthony Horowitz
novels at eight, the CS Lewis classic at number
nine and books by Louise Rennison – author of
the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series – in
joint tenth place with BBC Online.
Honor Wilson-Fletcher, director of the National
Year of Reading, said she was more interested in
the variety of the list than the order. She said that
adults read different kinds of things too and not
many read serious literature.
Predictably, the most hated read is homework. It
is followed by Shakespeare, books of over 100
pages and stories about skinny celebrities in
magazines – although the cover and pages six
to 12 of this week’s favourite read Heat are all
about that.
Perhaps the amazing success of Facebook may
be over, because it is the ninth most hated read,
although the report shows a big rise in online
reading. Wilson-Fletcher says we should be
glad that they read so much online, which earlier
generations didn’t have the chance to do.
The report also shows that 45% of young
teenagers’ parents criticize them for reading
something they think is bad for them. But Wilson-
Fletcher thinks that parents are too critical, and
reading is not just about reading books.
The schools minister, Jim Knight, said: “It is vital
that young people have the opportunity to read
widely. It is wonderful that 80% of the teenagers
surveyed write their own stories and keep
up-to-date with current affairs by using sites like
BBC Online.”
The report also shows a big difference between
boys and girls. 41% of boys put online computer
game cheats as their favourite read, and put
online song lyrics second. Nearly a third of boys
said they loved reading because it helped them
get better at hobbies. 39% of girls said they loved
reading because it provided an escape, or quiet
time to enjoy on their own.
Young people were surveyed to find the 20 
most loved and 20 most loathed reads. Then
teenagers logged on to the teen website Pizco to
vote on the lists.
© Guardian News & Media 2008
First published in The Guardian, 27/03/08