Teenage boys are “stuck” reading primary school books such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, while girls their age are moving on to a wider range of novels, according to a new study.

Among the boys aged 11 to 14 who were surveyed, eight of the 10 most read books were from Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Girls’ reading was spread across a wider range of authors and genres including Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper, Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.

The findings, published in the annual What Kids Are Reading report by the education technology company Renaissance, demonstrate the extent to which boys’ and girls’ reading choices “pull apart” by the time they reach key stage 3.

The report analysed more than 23m reading quizzes completed by almost 1.1 million children in schools across the UK and Ireland during the 2024-25 academic year.

Researchers suggest the pattern reflects broader differences in reading habits outside school. Previous research by the National Literacy Trust found that by ages 14 to 16, less than 10% of boys read daily in their spare time compared with 18% of girls.

Dedicated reading time at school often declines sharply after primary education. A separate Renaissance survey found that only 28% of secondary schools set aside at least 15 minutes a day for reading, compared with 62% of primary schools.

Bernadetta Brzyska, Renaissance’s head of research, said: “Children read best when they read what they love … This is not an argument against popular series. Familiar authors and box-set fiction pull reluctant readers in. The question is what comes next. Pupils who are steered towards new authors and harder books carry on reading while those left on the same series tend to stall.”

The report also found that pupils demonstrated stronger comprehension when reading books they had chosen themselves, scoring an average of 92% on quizzes about their favourite titles compared with 76% across all books.

Martin Galway, head of professional learning and partnerships at the National Literacy Trust, said: “The growing gap we see in secondary school, particularly for teenage boys, is a clear call to action. 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 during the government’s National Year of Reading campaign, which has identified teenage boys as one of the groups most in need of support after reading enjoyment among children fell to its lowest level on record last year.

Most-read books in years 7 to 9: boys

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth
9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown
10. The Hunger Games

Most-read books in years 7 to 9: girls

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
2. The Hunger Games
3. Heartstopper Volume 1
4. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
5. The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks
6. Heartstopper Volume 2
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
8. The Catastrophic Friendship Fails of Lottie Brooks
9. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
10. Lottie Brooks’s Totally Disastrous School Trip

• Source: Renaissance