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.

For boys aged 11 to 14, the sweeping analysis revealed that eight of the ten most read books were from the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series — books that are stuffed with simple illustrations on every page and are written to appeal to an elementary schooler’s sense of humor.

The situation isn’t much better for 13- to 16-year-old boys. While classics like “Of Mice And Men” and “Animal Farm” are the most-read in this age group — both of which are still a few years below their reading level — three of the top ten are still “Diary Of A Wimpy Kid” books. Others include the first “Harry Potter” book and a partially illustrated retelling of “Romeo And Juliet” intended for young children.

Girls’ reading choices, by contrast, were more varied. They include “The Hunger Games,” the graphic novel series “Heartstopper,” and the young adult crime novel “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder.”

Still, neither group exhibited the kind of variety educators would hope to see. “We see a heavy concentration on a limited number of authors and series across year groups,” the reported stated. “This risks limited exposure to diverse genres and voices.”

Less than 10 percent of boys aged 14-16 read for pleasure daily, another recent UK survey showed. With fewer teens reading than ever, it may feel precarious to look down on their taste in books, but there’s clearly some sort of disconnect that’s stopping young readers from broadening their horizons.

“Children read best when they read what they love… This is not an argument against popular series,” Bernadetta Brzyska, Renaissance’s head of research, told The Guardian. “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.”

Tech tends to be the culprit educators single out for plunging literacy rates, and rightfully so. Kids, just like their parents, are hooked on smartphones and social media apps, getting their attention spans fried by short form videos and infinite scrolling. A lot of schools require them to use laptops, which introduce similar distractions. And addictive AI chatbots are both acting as teens’ friends and as a handy tool that can summarize whatever reading is assigned. The issue is so entrenched that even college professors are complaining that undergrads are barely able to get through the basic reading they’re assigned.

But addictive devices and a daily barrage of brainrot can’t take all the blame. Another Renaissance survey, The Guardian noted, showed that barely a quarter of secondary schools (a combination of middle and high school) allot at least fifteen minutes a day for reading during the school day, compared to nearly two thirds of primary schools. In a world where more things are vying for teenagers’ attention than ever, it’d seem prudent to give them a distraction-free sanctuary to flex their cognitive muscles.

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