Is the Bedtime Story Making a Comeback?

For years, the headlines about children and books have made gloomy reading. Now, in the middle of a national campaign to rekindle a love of stories, there are the first signs that the tide may be turning. Here is what the latest research tells us, and how parents and carers can help keep the pages turning at home.

A long, slow decline

When the National Literacy Trust first asked children whether they enjoyed reading in their free time back in 2005, the picture was fairly rosy. Two decades later, it looked very different. The charity’s 2025 survey of almost 115,000 children and young people found that just under a third of 8 to 18-year-olds said they enjoyed reading for pleasure, the lowest level in 20 years. Fewer than one in five read something in their free time every day.

The fall was steepest among primary school children and boys, particularly boys aged 11 to 16. There was a gap linked to family income too, with children receiving free school meals less likely to read daily than their classmates.

The first green shoots

This year’s figures offer some welcome news. The National Literacy Trust’s 2026 survey, which heard from more than 125,000 children across the UK, found that enjoyment of reading has risen for the first time since 2021, to just over 36 per cent. The number of children reading daily also crept up, and the improvement was seen among both boys and girls and across every age group, with teenagers showing the biggest gains.

It is far from a complete turnaround. Daily reading remains below earlier years, enjoyment among the youngest children aged five to eight dipped slightly, and the gap between children from lower and higher income families has widened. But after years of steady decline, any upward movement is worth noticing.

A year dedicated to reading

The timing is no coincidence for many in the literacy world. 2026 has been named the National Year of Reading, a Department for Education initiative led by the National Literacy Trust and delivered with dozens of partner organisations. Its campaign, called Go All In, takes a refreshingly different approach. Rather than asking busy families to carve out extra time for books, it aims to bring reading to people through the things they already love, from sport and music to gaming and film.

The campaign’s ambitions are big: millions more people reading regularly for pleasure, one million more people using libraries and 100,000 volunteers getting involved.

Following their interests

That idea of starting with a child’s passions is backed up by what children themselves say. In the 2025 survey, the things most likely to tempt 8 to 18-year-olds to pick up something to read were material linked to a favourite film or television series, and reading that matched their hobbies and interests. An eye-catching cover or title came next, followed by the freedom to choose what they read.

For parents, that is quite freeing. Reading for pleasure doesn’t have to mean a classic novel. A football annual, a graphic novel, a cookbook, a magazine about a favourite game or the book behind a much-loved film all count. Letting children choose, even when the choice isn’t what we would have picked, may do more for their love of reading than any reading list.

The research also shows why enjoyment matters so much. Half of the children who enjoy reading read every day, compared with only a tiny fraction of those who don’t.

Small steps at home

For the youngest children, the National Year of Reading’s message to parents is simple: their story starts with you. Sharing a book together, visiting the local library or simply leaving interesting reading material around the house are easy ways to show that stories are part of everyday family life. And for older children who have drifted away from books, a gentle nudge towards something that genuinely excites them might be all it takes to bring them back.

Ollēdi © 2026

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