Children are choosing screens over books and it’s a growing concern as technology advances. At the Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2026, the reading crisis was a key topic of conversation. The topic is broad but it boils down to one question: is there really a lack of interest in reading, or is it something else?

Children’s publishing is not failing on content. Publishers continue to produce commercially aware, age-targeted books, a title like Mighty Mega Pets: Freaky Food Fiasco from Walker Books demonstrates audience clarity and a beautifully illustrated cover that appeals to a specific age range. So if the content is there, why are only one in five children reading daily, according to The National Literacy Trust?

The big problem is discoverability. There has been a significant shift from physical to digital discovery with artificial intelligence and search engines evolving constantly. Being published no longer means being discoverable. If adults can’t find relevant books, the children who should be reading them are directly impacted.

Good, complete metadata enables search engines to find your books. Consumers aren’t searching for specific book titles; their search queries are broad, “books for reluctant readers age 9”, “funny books for 7 year olds”. Having rich metadata means your books are surfaced through relevant keywords and descriptions. Titles alone aren’t enough anymore.

How does this connect to why children aren’t reading? Children rarely discover books on their own. It’s adults – parents, carers and teachers – who act as the gatekeepers to what they read. Books, especially children’s books, often span multiple topics and categories, when a book is poorly tagged, it won’t appear in the searches adults are actually making. If a publisher’s metadata doesn’t match those search behaviours, the books aren’t surfaced and the connection between book and child is lost.

The reading crisis is not simply a lack of interest in books, but a failure of discovery. If children cannot find the right books, they can’t read them. As discovery becomes more dependent on data, publishers who invest in richer, better-managed metadata will lead the way in connecting books with the readers who need them.

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