Book fair: Book industry warns of the consequences of poor reading among boys
The head of the stock exchange association, Sebastian Guggolz, warns of serious consequences of poor reading among boys and calls for educational policy priorities.
Quick Look
In view of a book market decline of over 30 percent for 10 to 15 year olds in 2025, the German Book Trade Association is warning of rampant reading difficulties and is calling for daily reading tape in class.
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Why It Matters
According to the stock exchange association, the book market will record a massive decline in the 10 to 15 year old age group in 2025.
The book market among young people will have shrunk by over 30 percent in 2025. The book trade warns of consequences for the formation of opinions – and compensation through AI.
Sebastian Guggolz: The head of the German Book Trade Association warns of a reading slump among boys. Photo: Getty Images
Frankfurt. In view of the increasing reading difficulties among the younger generation, the head of the German Book Trade Association, Sebastian Guggolz, warned of serious consequences and called for concrete action.
At the latest when he grows up, a rampant reading weakness also becomes a weakness in forming opinions, he said at the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair. “How are you supposed to form an informed opinion if you are not able to read and compare different positions?”
Guggolz referred to figures for the 2025 book market, according to which a decline of 30.6 percent in the number of books purchased was recorded, especially among the 10 to 15 year old age group. And according to the latest PISA study, one in three 15-year-olds lacked basic reading skills.
“The problem of reading skills cannot be compensated for by the triumph of AI, which provides us with answers at will.” On the contrary: This actually fuels the lack of reading skills. “If you can no longer read with meaning, you can no longer check an AI answer at all.”
This should alarm society because people are losing their self-determination. “If the problems are taken seriously, reading promotion and media literacy must be anchored as an educational policy priority,” demanded Guggolz. Specifically, the “daily reading book” could be introduced, in which a quarter of an hour of reading would be integrated into lessons every day. In addition, media literacy should be a compulsory subject everywhere.
This week in Frankfurt am Main it's all about books. The book fair officially opens in the evening. Then the Czech writer Radka Denemarková will speak. Politics is represented, among others, by Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer (independent).
More than a quarter of a million visitors are expected at the Frankfurt exhibition center by Sunday. The guest country of honor this year is the Czech Republic.
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What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair in the evening with speeches by Radka Denemarková and Wolfram Weimer.
Very likely · Within hours
Open Questions
- How does politics specifically respond to the demands for the daily bookmark?
- What measures are schools planning to increase media literacy?
