YouTube stars blamed for decline in reading ability

NOVELS written by YouTube stars are ruining children’s reading ages, experts warn, as the fashion and beauty video star Zoella has become more popular than JRR Tolkien among teenagers.

Children who are reading challenging books during their primary school years start to regress when they reach senior school, a study of literacy levels has revealed.

An annual survey, titled “What Kids are Reading”, has for the first time measured children’s reading age.

While children’s top 10 favourite books at primary school are dominated by J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series, by the time they have reached secondary school the top slots are occupied by novels by Zoella, a beauty blogger.

Keith Topping, professor of educational and social research at the University of Dundee, who was commission by Renaissance Learning to conduct the research, said: “Alas, the Zoella books are not as challenging as the J K Rowling books, we do have an issue there.

“J K Rowling books are quite hard. But I do grieve about children wanting to read books that are not challenging enough.”

JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit has been a constant favourite previously, but it has “disappeared” this year, according to Prof Topping.

He added: “The decline in children’s reading age during secondary school is pronounced. In previous years there was some evidence of it but this year is much more striking.”

The research, which surveyed the reading habits of more than 800,000 children in the UK, found that children leave primary school with the correct reading age, but by the time they sit GCSEs at age 16, their reading age is that of a 13-year-old.

Zoella, whose real name is Zoe Sugg, rose to fame as a fashion and beauty blogger before publishing her first book, Girl Online, in 2014 which is aimed at young adults.