The Bookseller - News - Children reading more but enjoyment and comprehension on the decline, research suggests

According to the 2023 What Kids Are Reading Report, 1.3 million pupils from across the UK and Ireland read in excess of 27 million books in the 2021-2022 academic year, up 24% on the year before, with Alice Oseman and Colleen Hoover's books dominating the list of secondary pupils' favourite books.

However, findings from a National Literacy TrustUK-based organisation which has campaigned since 1993 to improve literacy standards across all age groups. Excellent research information and details of the many initiatives the charity is currently involved in. www.literacytrust.org.uk. It also has a useful page of news stories on UK literacy, which links to newsletter http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/TheLibrary.aspx 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.