Surprisingly little has been written in school-related science education literature about reading for pleasure. This article reports the findings of a survey exploring free-choice science book reading habits of children and young teens. In the survey, over 300 children aged 8--14 completed a written questionnaire. The results showed that most did not read science books outside school and about a fifth of the sample did not read them in school. For a significant number, the assumption is that such books are boring, difficult, only for specialists or only for the academically gifted. The implications of this perception are discussed.