Reading: Jump in number of children reading books

Do you enjoy getting your nose stuck in a good book?

New figures suggest lots of children do, as the number of books children read went up by almost a quarter last year, according to a new report.

The 2023 What Kids Are Reading Report looked at the reading habits of nearly 1.3 million pupils across the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The study was carried out by the learning and assessment provider, Renaissance.

Some of the most popular authors across the UK and Ireland include Jeff Kinney who wrote the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, David Walliams and Roald Dahl.

Let us know who your favourite author is by taking part in our vote and you can tell us which authors or books you love in the comments below - why not leave a recommendation too!

Both Jeff Kinney and David Walliams are the first and second most read authors among both primary and secondary school pupils, while J.K. Rowling is the third most popular among older children.

It found pupils read an impressive 27,265,657 books in the 2021-2022 academic year, 24% more than 2020-2021.

So what's behind the big jump in the popularity of books?

Researchers say that social media trends like BookTok, which is a community on TikTok, is helping increase the interest in some books, such as Alice Oseman's popular Heartstopper series.

The report found throughout secondary school, pupils across the UK and Ireland were still reading books at almost the same level of difficulty as upper primary pupils, the researchers found.

Also findings from a National Literacy Trust survey showed that rates of reading for enjoyment have fallen since the coronavirus pandemic.

During lockdown, the report said, reading enjoyment had significantly increased among children. Now, fewer than half say they enjoy reading either very much or a lot.

"It is clear that much more must be done to support children and young people with the lowest levels of reading enjoyment, recognising the role that families, schools and the wider community have to play," said Dr Christina Clark who is the head of research at the National Literacy Trust.

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