If you’ve ever wondered what British children are actually reading, then look no further than the annual What Kids Are Reading report written by Prof. Keith Topping of Dundee University and published by Renaissance Learning.

Examining the book-reading habits of over 300,000 students from Years 1-13 in more than 1,600 British schools – who collectively read in excess of 4,000,000 books throughout the 2011/12 school year – this is the fifth annual report.

In the report, Prof. Topping not only looks at the titles children of all ages and abilities are reading, but also enjoying – as every student that took part in the study voted on their favourites, and the results may surprise you.

What the papers say about the findings of the 2013 report:

- BBC News: Teenagers' book choices 'go for easier reads'

- The Guardian: Alarm over secondary school reading habits

- Daily Mail: Teenage reading ability slips back to primary school level once they reach 16

- Daily Telegraph: Secondary school children 'shunning difficult books'

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books continue to prove popular with children, demonstrating two key trends in this year’s top 10 books; books with a fantasy or adventure theme to them, and books which have had success on-screen. Overall, the honour of the most popular title goes to the first book in Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires series.		However, perennial classics from the likes of Roald Dahl (Matilda, The BFG) and Allan Ahlberg (The Jolly Postman) are notable by their absence from the top 10; although according to separate but related data showing the most read (as opposed to most popular) books, they remain some of the most widely read books by UK children.
The most read authors across academic years 1 – 11 are below. Authors new for 2013 are in bold: