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Picking texts for teens is not an easy task - just ask any secondary school teacher.

The problem has long been made harder by declining numbers of young people choosing to read in their spare time.

Although the past year has seen a small uptick in children aged 8-18 reading for pleasure, the longer-term picture is less positive: since 2005, the proportion of young people .

In response to these trends, secondary schools are being pushed to put more books under the noses of their students, particularly those in key stage 3 and key stage 4.

A big part of the challenge is finding books that teens will actually want to read. So, can looking at the bestselling books for secondary school-aged readers offer clues to what kinds of texts may work best?

Bestselling books for teenagers

91���� asked Waterstones to list its bestselling books for those aged 12 to 16 over the past year. These are its bestselling titles for this age group over the 12 months from June 2025. For bestselling series, only the first book in the series is listed:

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, points out that the dominance of contemporary teen fiction, romance, fantasy and dystopian series on the Waterstones list underlines the distance between what many students choose to read for themselves and the texts they are required to study at school.

For Di’Iasio, this gap is particularly stark at KS4, where GCSE English literature remains dominated by classic texts that “many young people find dry and unengaging”.

He argues that the recent curriculum and assessment review represented “a missed opportunity” to rethink GCSE English literature and make it feel more relevant to young people in modern Britain.

The answer, Di’Iasio suggests, is not to abandon the classics, but to create “a better balance between old and new”.

The Waterstones list, he adds, makes it “easy to see” the “chasm between the GCSE reading list and what young people actually enjoy reading”, a divide he believes should be narrowed.

Teenagers less likely to read for pleasure

Conversely, Gráinne Hallahan, head of the Teacher Tapp community and a former English teacher, argues that “books worth studying and books you read for pleasure don’t have to overlap”.

She isn’t worried that teenagers like reading books about teenagers and escapism, explaining that “there is plenty of time to also read the classics”.

During her time as an English teacher, Hallahan found that engaging with “the classics” for short periods during class “can be a very successful strategy when trying to improve reading comprehension”.

Hallahan’s point, it seems, is that reading of any kind should not be discouraged or questioned, especially given the decline in children reading as they move into secondary school.

According to the , secondary-aged children are less likely to read for pleasure than primary pupils, with 47.7 per cent of 8- to 11-year-olds saying they enjoy reading, compared with 33.2 percent of 11- to 14-year-olds and 35 per cent of 14- to 16-year-olds.

‘Typical’ for girls to out-read boys

The list also points to another trend in the statistics.

Hallahan notes that the list is mostly made up of books by female authors with female protagonists, aimed at a predominantly female audience. To her, this comes as no surprise.

Girls out-reading boys is “typical”, she states, as “girls are more likely to say they read for pleasure”.

The National Literacy Trust’s annual survey backs this up. It found that just 28 per cent of boys aged 8 to 18 say they enjoy reading, compared with 42.3 per cent of girls.

Hallahan also notices that the reading list contains lots of books that have since been made into movies or TV series.

She explains that this is “always useful for teachers when recommending books”, as it provides an easy way for students who are reluctant readers to try a book they feel familiar with.

Boosting reading in secondary schools

Beyond recommending books that feel accessible, what else can secondary schools do to boost reading?

Working with researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London, the Department for Education has already rolled out training to support all secondary teachers in this area.

In addition, Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at the NAHT school leaders’ union, suggests that giving young people dedicated time and space to read during the school day could encourage them to read more.

She believes this initiative should come from the top down and hopes that following the government’s curriculum and assessment review, schools will be given the space to “make genuine decisions on their wider curriculum and free up more time for students to read for enjoyment”.

A revised national curriculum had been expected this spring. However, with Andy Burnham taking over as prime minister, it remains to be seen if the DfE will stick to this timeline and how high reading for pleasure will feature among other priorities.

Rufus Thomas is a freelance writer

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