Fewer teens than ever are reading books, and boys especially. And the ones who do read are either years behind where they should be developmentally, or too scared to branch out to challenging literature.
According to a new study of children’s reading habits in the UK and Ireland, most boys are still reading primary school level books (in Europe, primary school is the rough equivalent of elementary school in the US). Girls, meanwhile, graduate to reading a slightly healthier variety of novels.
“The growing gap we see in secondary school, particularly for teenage boys, is a clear call to action,” Martin Galway, head of professional learning and partnerships at the UK’s National Literacy Trust, told The Guardian. “Too many young people are ‘stuck’ or disengaging from reading altogether, often because they have not yet found books that feel relevant, accessible or inspiring.”
The findings come from this year’s What Kids Are Reading report from the edutech company Renaissance, which analyzed over 23 million reading quizzes from nearly 1.1 million children from the 2024-2025 academic year.
