The HarperCollins Children’s Books and Farshore Annual Insight Event was, in many ways, a reality check for the industry.

Cally Poplak, Managing Director of HarperCollins Children's Books and Farshore opened with a line that cut straight through the noise: a bought book is not a read book. It’s a reminder that while headline sales - and a handful of blockbuster titles - can suggest a healthy market, they can also mask something far more fragile underneath: a weakening culture of reading.

And that’s the tension at the heart of everything we heard.

Because the data is clear. Reading for pleasure is in decline - and not gradually, but materially. The drops are as depressing as those shared last year by the NLT's Annual Literacy Survey, highlghting a 20 year low in reading for pleasure. The paper draws on HarperCollins' extensive research (now in its 15th year), updated reading trend data from 2025, their new research from NielsenIQ, plus their 2026 research "Reading Connections: Learning to Read vs Choosing to Read" in collaboration with The Reading Agency,

The headline figures are stark: daily reading among children (5-17) has collapsed from 39% in 2012 to just 25% in 2025, while those who rarely or never read has tripled from 5% to 15%.

But what’s most striking isn’t just the decline. It’s why.

The central insight: the “reading paradox”

The core idea running through the research is what HarperCollins calls the reading paradox. We are getting better at teaching children how to read. But worse at helping them want to read

Or, as Cally put it: we are focusing on the skill, not the will.

Literacy and reading for pleasure are intertwined - but they are not the same. And by treating them as interchangeable, we’re unintentionally undermining both.

When reading becomes associated with homework. With assessment. With correction…it stops being something children choose, and becomes something they endure. And as the research puts it bluntly: pressure kills pleasure.

Trend 1: A declining habit - starting earlier than we think

The headline numbers are stark, but the more concerning story sits with younger children.

Only 32% of 5–10-year-olds now read daily for pleasure - down sharply from 55% in 2012. Even more worrying, the number of children who rarely or never read is rising at exactly the age when habits are formed.

This isn’t just a market issue. It’s a cultural one. Because once that early habit is lost, it’s incredibly hard to rebuild.

Trend 2: A fragile market hiding behind bestsellers

Cally highlighted something the industry doesn’t always like to confront: the asymmetry of the book-buying audience.

76% of their buyers are light or occasional buyers.

Heavy buyers (16+ books a year) now represent just 5% - and are shrinking

That creates a structural risk. The market is increasingly dependent on a small group of heavy readers and a small number of big titles. It’s a model that works - until it doesn’t. But it also points to a huge opportunity: if light buyers could be nudged to buy just one more book, the impact would be transformational.

Trend 3: Parents care - but don’t know what to do

One of the most revealing insights is the disconnect between belief and behaviour. Parents overwhelmingly say reading for pleasure matters:

71% wish their children read more. Many parents rank it alongside sleep, diet and academic success. And yet most read to their children primarily to improve literacy, not enjoyment. Many prioritise homework over shared reading and daily reading aloud drops off sharply as children get older. In other words: parents are trying to do the right thing - but with the wrong model. They haven’t been given clarity on how reading for pleasure actually works.

Trend 4: Reading is losing to screens - but there’s a twist

Screen time remains the dominant competitor. Parents are concerned, children are drawn to it, and reading struggles to compete for attention. But there’s a more nuanced shift happening - especially among older children.

Among 11–17-year-olds attitudes to reading are improving. The data suggested that fewer teens think “books aren’t cool” (down from 45% to 38% between 2024 and 2025 for the 11-17 age group), and fewer say they’d “rather watch TV, play video games or go online than read” (down from 76% to 69% for 14- to 17-year-olds). Fewer think books “aren’t cool”, discovery via platforms like BookTok and YouTube is rising. Reading is becoming social again. And when reading becomes social - shared, discussed, recommended - engagement follows. That’s a critical insight for the industry.

Trend 5: The single most powerful lever - reading aloud

If there was one takeaway that felt both simple and profound, it’s that reading aloud is the single biggest driver of reading for pleasure.

59% of children who are read to daily also read daily themselves. And yet only 40% of 5–7-year-olds are read to daily. Children who are read to daily are three times more likely to choose to read independently, daily, than if they are read to weekly by their parents, said HarperCollins Consumer Insight Director Alison David.

Parents don’t realise that reading aloud isn’t just for learning - it’s the foundation of lifelong reading. The report emphasised the importance of reading to children beyond the age when they can “decode” the language themselves. They still need to be read to for the enjoyment it brings, for habit forming and for encouragement to read independently.

So where does this leave us?

Cally ended on a deliberately optimistic note - moving from “Eeyore to Tigger”. Because for all the challenges, this moment is also full of possibility. Parental anxiety about screen time is at an all-time high. There is growing recognition of the reading crisis. Teenagers are showing early signs of re-engagement. And the National Year of Reading is creating real momentum. Most importantly, we now have evidence-based solutions. This isn’t an unsolvable problem. It’s a misunderstood one.

The opportunity

If we can clearly separate literacy from reading for pleasure. Give parents practical, confidence-building guidance. Make reading social, visible and shareable - and rebuild the habit early…then we don’t just change outcomes for children.

We rebuild a culture.

And as Cally made clear, the commercial upside of that is enormous. But more importantly - so is the human one. Because when reading becomes something children choose, not something they’re told to do, everything changes.

To read the full report, visit the HarperCollins website here.