The results of a comprehensive UK-wide study of over 1 million pupils has been carried out revealing the most popular fiction books and authors amongst children across Pre-Prep, Prep and Senior schools.

Carried out by literacy and assessment provider Renaissance UK for their annual What Kids Are Reading Report,  the study found a clear formula for children’s literacy success: reading practice, reading for pleasure, and appropriate challenge of books.

The following lists provide an interesting insight into the most-read books by our children in the last academic year. Fascinatingly though, whilst the ever-popular Harry Potter series ranked amongst many children’s ‘all time favourites’ they were not, however, the ‘most read’ books!

Most Popular books for 4-11 year olds

1.  Bad Dad – David Walliams
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway – Jeff Kinney
3. The Twits – Roald Dahl
4. Gangsta Granny – David Walliams
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules – Jeff Kinney
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days – Jeff Kinney
8. George’s Marvellous Medicine – Roald Dahl
9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul – Jeff Kinney
10. Billionaire Boy – David Walliams

Most Popular books for 11-18 year olds

1. Gangsta Granny – David Walliams
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway – Jeff Kinney
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul – Jeff Kinney
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days – Jeff Kinney
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules – Jeff Kinney
7. Billionaire Boy – David Walliams
8. Boy in a Dress – David Walliams
9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School – Jeff Kinney
10. Wonder – R. J. Palacio

Did you know?

The study also revealed some other interesting stats!

• Reading time can have a direct bearing on our children’s vocabulary expansion.
• Between the ages of 4 to 18 years old, students with an average daily reading time of 30+ minutes are projected to encounter 13.7 million words.
• At the end of secondary school, their peers who averaged less than 15 minutes of reading per day are likely to be exposed to only 1.5 million words.
• Some researchers estimate students learn one new word of vocabulary for every thousand words read.
• Using this ratio, a student who reads only 1.5 million words would learn only 1,500 new vocabulary words from reading
• However, a student who reads 13.7 million words would learn 13,700 new vocabulary terms—more than nine times the amount of vocabulary growth.

 

Read our inspiring article from children’s author Jeff Norton on Top Tips for Reluctant Readers