Girls read more challenging books than boys

A major study of children’s reading habits has shown that girls are tending towards a more advanced reading level than boys.

The study, which looked at 100,000 children, showed that while boys are reading roughly the same amount as girls, it’s the girls who are pursuing the most challenging literature and scoring higher in reading tests.

It seems that when children reach the age of 11 and move onto secondary school, they tend to start choosing books that are easier for their level. This trend is true of both sexes, and may be connected to the decline in popularity of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series – Rowling was the second most popular children’s author two years ago and is now ninth in the chart. So what are children choosing to tackle now that Potter-mania is on the wane?

The favourite book amongst teenage girls was Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, the first in her vampire romance series. This was considered a far more challenging read than the boys’ most popular choice, Peter Lancett’s The Dark Never Hides, part of an illustrated fantasy series aimed at children and young adults struggling to read.

The report on these findings recommended that teachers should be monitoring their pupils’ reading habits and trying to encourage them to read at a more challenging level, pushing themselves as they grow older – many adults choose not to read to their limits, so it is hoped that encouragement from a young age will mean children are growing up with a steady advancement of reading skills. Teachers were encouraged to notice the boys’ book choices in particular, as the findings show a complete trend reversal from two years ago when boys were seen to be taking on more challenging books than girls.

The study was conducted by Renaissance Learning and the children’s reading habits were confirmed with online quizzes about the books they said they’d been reading.