The Farshore and HarperCollins Children’s Books Annual Review of Children’s Reading for Pleasure, 2026

The Reading Paradox: How Our Focus on Literacy is Undermining Reading for Pleasure

Reading for pleasure feeds children’s interests and passions, it supports their understanding of the world, including, importantly, worlds beyond their experience, and enables children to achieve more academically. Children who read for pleasure develop richer vocabulary, build empathy and have better wellbeing – benefits that apply across all social backgrounds. The OECD identifies reading for pleasure as one of the most powerful tools for social mobility available to educators and policymakers.

Yet reading for pleasure among UK children is in freefall. This paper draws on HarperCollins’ extensive research, now in its 15th year, updated reading trend data from 2025, our new research from NielsenIQ, plus our 2026 research ‘Reading Connections: Learning to Read vs. Choosing to Read’, in collaboration with The Reading Agency, to examine why – and what we can do about it.

We find a critical paradox: parents and schools both recognise that reading for pleasure matters, but their understandable focus on literacy skills is actively undermining it. However, there is encouraging news. Reading engagement among older children is rising, and parents are hungry for guidance. We have a window of opportunity.

HarperCollins is a proud supporter of the UK National Year of Reading’s ‘Go All In’ campaign, which brings necessary and timely focus to the crisis in children’s reading. We are proud to have influenced the thinking behind this campaign and we are steadfast in our mission to make every child a proud reader.