Books Kids Are Reading Most Often: Overall Picture

The number of quizzes taken declined further by a larger amount than in the previous year (by 8% to 24,042,991). The number of quizzes passed was 21,055,356, again representing a larger decline (9%) than last year. The Average Book Difficulty Level (ATOS) was 3.6 (as last year), and the Average Per cent Correct was 0.76 on all Quizzes taken (higher than the previous year – 0.73), but this would be higher on Quizzes passed.

Pupils steadily read more books each year in the first three years, reaching a peak in Year 3 at 34.1 books (34.7 last year). After this, the number of books read per year steadily declined. As older pupils read longer and more complex books, this would be expected to a large extent. The average number of quizzes passed shows a similar trajectory.

As in many previous years, average book difficulty rose as pupils became older, but not in proportion to the rate at which the pupils should have been improving in reading. The Average Book Level was 3.6, just as last year. Average Book Difficulty rose until Year 9 (very slowly in the later years), then declined steadily thereafter, even though the older pupils should have been reading harder books. Even the rise in the lower years was not in proportion to the increasing age of the pupils. Throughout secondary school, pupils continued to read books at a level of difficulty similar to that of upper primary pupils. It remains the case that if older readers challenge themselves more, better reading outcomes can be anticipated. Against this must be set the tendency for AR to move out of the mainstream in the later years of secondary school, being used more generally as an intervention resource.

Average Percent Correct (APC) on quizzes taken was in every year lower than that recommended by the software manufacturers. However, pupils in primary schools consistently showed a much higher APC (average 80%) than pupils in secondary schools (72%) – they were reading books with greater comprehension. Both of these figures had increased from the previous year.

The effectiveness with which pupils were retaking quizzes seems worrying: 24,042,991 were taken, but only 19,241,141 were passed (a considerable decline on overall numbers, but the proportion passed remained much the same at 80%, as last year).

Pupils read a total of 223,166,221,269 words, a 6% decrease over the previous year (but this was a more minor decrease). The average total words read stayed much the same at 187,658 words, after a sharp decrease in the previous year.

We can now ask what books children in each year read most often overall, while simultaneously considering the difficulty level of those books and differences in reading habits between the genders.

Books Kids Are Reading Most Often: By Year

Readers will notice that the gender-specific books are somewhat different from the general rankings – this is partially because there were a number of gender unassigned pupils.

Year 1

As last year, Donaldson’s The Gruffalo was the most popular book for both boys and girls, and her The Gruffalo’s Child was also highly placed for both genders. Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt was also popular with both boys and girls. Julia Donaldson’s two newer books were also highly rated. After this came Roderick Hunt with ten books (see Table 6), a modest reduction from last year. Concerning difficulty (ATOS), the average was 2.0, very similar to last year. Pupils were generally reading over one and a half years above their chronological age or natural reading ability. APC was again 0.91 (the same as last year), so despite the books tending to be harder, they were being read with a good level of accuracy. The APC was high even on many books of high readability for this Year. Overall, these pupils were reading these books very successfully, beyond the recommendations of the software producers.

Year 2

In Year 2, The Gruffalo was top again for both boys and girls, followed for both by theGruffalo’ss Child. Julia Donaldson had nine books in the top 20 (one more than last year). Martin Waddell’s Owl Babies did well, just as last year. Roderick Hunt had further declined to only one book in the overall top 20. Overall Average ATOS was 2.6 (just as last year) (Table 7). Both boys and girls were reading a year and a half above their chronological age. The average overall APC was 0.90, very slightly reduced from last year. Again, the APC was high even on some books of high readability for this Year.

Year 3

Year 3 was again led by Julia Donaldson with The Gruffalo and a further six books in the Top 20, just as last year. However, Roald Dahl had become more prominent, occupying the second, third, and fourth places for both boys and girls, and had published a further three books overall (an improvement from last year). Francesca Simon had two books (one fewer than in previous years) (see Table 8). The difficulty level was high at 3.4 (UK years 4.4), an increase over the prior year. Children were reading books over a year above their actual Year level. Overall, APC was 0.89, just as last year.

Year 4

Year 4 saw Roald Dahl winning the battle with Jeff Kinney for girls, taking the top four titles, while Jeff Kinney won the struggle for boys, also taking the top four books. Lower down, Kinney and Dahl alternated between boys and girls, so girls also read Kinney. Overall, Dahl had six books, and Kinney had 12 (much like last year) (see Table 9). The average difficulty level of ATOS was 4.8 (the same as last year) (UK 5.8), so these books were a year and a half above the pupils’ chronological age. The APC was 0.91, very slightly higher than last year.

Year 5

Overall, Jeff Kinney dominated the table, taking the top five places for both boys and girls and having a further 11 books in the table (one more than last year). Roald Dahl had two books, and David Walliams also had two books lower down (see Table 10). The overall difficulty level was 5.3, very slightly higher than in previous years (equivalent to 6.3 in the UK). Pupils were still reading more than a year above their chronological age. APC was sustained at 0.91, much as last year.

Year 6

In Year 6, Kinney was again the dominant author for boys, with 18 books, much like last year. Girls had only 13 Kinney books in their Top 20 and three Katie Kirby books on the list. Louis Sachar’s Holes was highly rated by both girls and boys (see Table 11). Year 6 pupils show much the same average difficulty as last year, the overall average being 5.5 (UK 6.5). Pupils in this year were reading a little above their chronological age. This was the previous year in which pupils were reading at or above their natural age level. Likewise, both boys and girls still have a high Average Percentage Correct (0.91), just as they did last year.

Year 7

Year 7 is the first secondary year (except in Scotland).

For boys, Jeff Kinney was again very popular, taking the top 11 books with a further six in the list (a total of 17 books), but girls again showed more interest in Alice Oseman (with the top three books and a further one in the list). However, these latter books are of very low readability and unlikely to develop reading skills in pupils of this age. J.K. Rowling, David Walliams and Katie Kirby all had two books in the girls’ list (see Table 12). Average APC declined very slightly from last year at 0.87. The difficulty of books was somewhat higher than last year at 5.2 (6.2 in UK terms), suggesting these pupils were reading at almost a year below their chronological age.

Year 8

Year 8 is the second year of secondary education (the first secondary year in Scotland).

Choices by boys and girls begin to diverge even more markedly at this age (see Table 13). George Orwell’s Animal Farm again topped the boys’ list, while the girls’ list was topped by Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Both boys and girls highly rated Suzanne Collins‘ The Hunger Games, but after this, boys reverted to Jeff Kinney (fifteen books). In contrast, girls’ choices were much more diverse, featuring books by Alice Oseman (who was less popular than last year), J.K. Rowling, Holly Jackson, and others. Jeff Kinney’s books have experienced a remarkable resurgence among boys, with eight titles released in the previous year. For the overall average ATOS score, the figure was 5.5 (UK 6.5), higher than the prior year. Pupils were reading about a year and a half below their chronological ages. Overall average APC was 0.87 for both boys and girls (as last year).

Years 9-11

As the number of pupils is smaller for Years 9-11, these years have been combined into one.

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and George Orwell’s Animal Farm remained very popular with both boys and girls (as in previous years). Suzanne Collins‘ The Hunger Games was also highly placed for both boys and girls. For boys, Jeff Kinney still had six books lower down (fewer than last year), but J.K. Rowling also had six books (many more than last year). The girls’ list featured Holly Jackson, Colleen Hoover and other Suzanne Collins books, but no Jeff Kinney books (just as last year) (see Table 14).

ATOS was 5.3 (UK 6.3), a little higher than last year. Thus, these pupils were reading almost four years below their chronological age. APC was 0.89 (0.88 last year).

Continue Reading

Return to home

429 Too Many Requests

Books Kids Are Reading Most Often