If Richard is so averse to reading books, where did he pick up all those statistics?
I don't recall him being averse to reading books. He was merely more concerned with getting home when the storm hit and wasn't interested in reading at the moment. The whole literary motif was more of a backdrop to help him gain courage than to impress a "reading is great" moral on him (though that may have been the moral intended for the audience). That said, it's possible that he's more into non-fiction books at the start of the film.
It could also be taken as something of a 'Visit your Local Libary' aesop as much as a 'Reading is Great' aesop. He might very well have been reading a lot but if memory serves, he didn't have a library card. Also, maybe I'm misremembering how the news was at the time, but he very well may have gotten those statistics from just...segments on the news, newspapers, etc. instead of books.
It could be the kinds of books he was consuming. Fiction stories can set examples for and inspire kids to be brave, kind, smart or what have you; kids love mimicking others, and they could, for example, work to keep their grades up so they can be smart like their favorite character from a sci-fi novel. Books that just list off numbers are unlikely to inspire the same.
To escape the worlds of fiction, Richard must make his way through the lands of Horror, Adventure and Fantasy. Why that order? Because first-off, he's being pursued and haunted in the real-world by some unknown force the Pagemaster is working hard to drive back. He must begin his journey by facing his paralyzing fears. Then embraces the spirit of adventure, as he frees himself of nightmares to explore the unknown, untamed world. Finally, to know and understand the magical realm of fantasy, where only good endings prevail, the ending he deserves, as the exit awaits.
Bonus as Genius Bonus: In the Fantasy section, a large book falls on top of Richard, and he has to shrug it off. The book? Atlas Shrugged.
Notably, it's one of the very few modern films to depict Mr. Hyde as shorter than Dr. Jekyll, as per the original novel.
You have to wonder how Richard survives half the ordeals he goes through, up to being eaten by a dragon. But think about it, the Pagemaster made him a character in a story. He quite literally has Plot Armor.
Richard doesn't read fiction, or use his imagination, in a positive healthy way. Later on we see a library-full of children's books inside the dragon's stomach. A metaphor the embodiment of fear is literally consuming everything of Richard's and leaving him with nothing.
If the dragon is Richard's imagination turned malevolent, or the primordial manifestation of fear itself, it would explain why it's so hellbent on consuming him. Literally and figuratively.
The vague plot points for the characters of Long John, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and Captain Ahab can be summed up in three words: Read the book.
Treasure Island seamlessly transitioning from a tiny island into the vast Fantasy land exactly like what happens with locations transforming in dreams, thus hinting at the fact that this is All Just a Dream.
If one pays attention to the dynamics of the three books, they're a reflection of how the three genres typically interact. Starting with the least dynamic duo - Adventure and Horror - their genres don't tend to interact very much. Not to say there are no adventure-horrors out there, but it's defiantly a less popular combination. In the middle is Horror and Fantasy, who get along quite well because fantasy and horror books typically have elements of each other in many of their stories; horrors that incorporate fantastical beings are hardly rare, and many fantastical stories have gruesome parts or implications if one digs deep enough. Finally, we come to Adventure and Fantasy, who are romantically involved because the two genres are so compatible and interact so frequently that many stories on both sides can be mistaken for the other.
