Children's book sizes shrinking with fears tiktok is 'killing attention spans'

AN ANALYSIS OF THE LENGTH OF BOOKS FOR SIX TO 12-YEAR-OLDS SHOWS THE TOMES HAVE SHRUNK OVER THE PAST CENTURY FROM AN AVERAGE OF 193.5 PAGES IN THE 1930S TO ONLY 60.6 PAGES IN THE 2020S

16:16, 01 Jun 2025 Children's books are shrinking in size in line as kids are too distracted to sit and read. Experts say youngsters’ abilities to focus on long reads has been killed by

their addiction to video games, tablets, phones and video sites including Instagram and TikTok. An analysis of the length of books for six to 12-year-olds shows the tomes have shrunk over

the past century from an average of 193.5 pages in the 1930s to only 60.6 pages in the 2020s. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which includes the 766-page Order of the Phoenix were mostly

published in the late-1990s and early-2000s. The kids’ books shrinkage comes after research from Kapow Primary – a lesson planning resource for teachers – said children’s attention spans

were “shorter than ever” after the Covid lockdowns of 2020. Another analysis showed TikTok’s most popular videos are between 21 and 34 seconds. The proportion of children who read for

pleasure has also dropped for all age groups, an audit shows. Article continues below But Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Waterstones children’s laureate and winner of the Carnegie Medal for Millions

in 2004, thinks making books high-quality and captivating can save today’s distracted kids. He said: “I think there is still a place for the vast immersive worlds in fantasy.” And writer

Katherine Rundell, whose 368-page Impossible Creatures book came out in 2023, optimistically added: “I think there will always be significant shifts in the market, but what will never change

is a child’s need to be told the truth, and to be enchanted.” Publishers are also on a mission to keep children as hooked on books as social media. Designs have changed to include more

pictures, chapters shortened and type fonts made larger in an attempt to encourage them to read. Cally Poplak, managing director for HarperCollins Children’s Books, said: “One of the most

significant changes we have seen in the way books are published is the increased importance of design. Article continues below “Huge care is now given to illustration, font size, typesetting

and cover design.” Anthony Horowitz caused irritation among some of his fellow authors last month when he said his Alex Rider series – which mostly run to 300-plus pages per book - would be

too long to capture the dwindling attention spans of today’s youth.