Teachers have been urged to harness social media trends that encourage pupils to read more by helping them choose more challenging books.
A survey of the reading habits of over one million pupils across the UK reveals a significant rise in the number of books read over the past year.
Pupils read more than 27 million books this year - a 24 per cent rise on 2022, according to the 2023 What Kids Are Reading Report from learning and assessment provider Renaissance.
The report suggests that the rise in volume could be driven by social media trends such as BookTok - a community of literature fans on TikTok.
But analysis of the difficulty of books and comprehension levels showed a mixed picture.
The report found the average book difficulty level was identical to last year at 3.6, and is not rising in proportion to pupils’ ages.
The report points to a 15-year trend of secondary pupils not tackling books of sufficient difficulty.
And pupils in primary schools consistently show a much higher level of comprehension (74 per cent to 80 per cent) than pupils in secondary schools (65 per cent to 71 per cent), it says.
Joan Mill, group managing director of Renaissance International, said: “Whilst we should lean into any trend that encourages more reading, teachers play a vital role in helping pupils select books that will challenge and develop them.
“When pupils read suitably challenging texts appropriate for their age, they are more likely to finish the book and develop a reading habit that leads ultimately to reading for pleasure - and the wider academic benefits that brings.”
She highlighted the diversity of the most popular books in this year’s report and the increased influence of BookTok as interesting developments.
The report charts the continued rise in popularity of graphic novels, driven by social media trends.
For example, TikTok hashtags, driven by BookTok, discussing Alice Oseman’s popular Heartstopper series have accumulated over 10.8 billion views on the social media platform, while hashtags about Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us have generated over 6.3 billion views.
The Heartstopper series landed the top four spots in the list of favourite books among secondary pupils, followed closely by It Ends with Us in fifth place.
Meanwhile, authors such as David Walliams, Jeff Kinney and JK Rowling retained their top spots in author popularity across both the primary and secondary levels.
Other longstanding favourites such as Roald Dahl, John Steinbeck, George Orwell and J.B. Priestley maintain strong readership.
Keith Topping, professor of educational and social research from the University of Dundee, said that the report drew from 15 years of data.
Over this time, he said: “We have seen a repeated decline in reading comprehension from primary to secondary pupils.
“To help tackle this, secondary pupils need to be encouraged to read books of increased difficultly, more appropriate to their age.”
Less reading for pleasure
Findings from a National Literacy Trust (NLT) survey of 62,149 pupils also presented in the report show reading for pleasure has declined since the pandemic.
During lockdown, reading enjoyment had significantly increased among pupils.
Now, fewer than half of children and young people say they enjoy reading either very much or a lot.
Some experts hope social media trends will reverse these latest figures.
Dr Christina Clark, the NLT’s head of research, said that reading enjoyment levels are at a 15-year low, but highlighted the role of teachers in inspiring children to read for pleasure.
She said: “The brief rise in both levels of reading enjoyment and reading frequency in May 2020 suggests that giving children and young people free time to read is vital in supporting their reading enjoyment.
“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 in ensuring any downward trends in reading enjoyment and frequency do not extend into future years.”
