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The numbers appear in a video released by the family itself and have not undergone independent auditing, but they touch on a real debate, since Brazilians read on average less than four books per year, according to the Instituto Pró-Livro, and researchers remind us that quantity does not mean comprehension.
The reading of 150 books in a single year by an 11-year-old girl became a topic on Brazilian social media. A resident of Guarujá, on the coast of São Paulo, Maria Clara ended the year 2025 with 150 books read, while her brother Benjamin, 7, totaled 90 titles in the same period. The data was presented by their mother, Bruna Rafaella Luz, in a video in which the family shows the stacks of works accumulated throughout 2025.
According to the family’s account, of Maria Clara’s 150 titles, 122 are literary works and 28 are books that make up the Bible, read over about nine months in 2025. The mother claims to have trained her children as readers with daily reading aloud, memorization, and little screen time. However, the numbers come from a personal account and have not been independently verified, which does not prevent a broader question about what truly transforms a child into a reader in a country that reads little.
What the family’s account presents
The starting point of the story is a homemade video in which the mother displays the books read by the children during 2025. According to this account, Maria Clara read 122 literary works and also completed reading 28 books of the Bible throughout the year. Among the readings the girl pointed out as favorites are titles like Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah.
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The younger brother, Benjamin, 7, reportedly read 90 books in the same year, with a highlight on the Geronimo Stilton series. The family also claims that a third child, Estevão, 9, read 72 titles in 2025, and that the mother, Bruna Rafaella Luz, has six children and is expecting the seventh. According to the account, the reading routine began in 2019, when Maria Clara was still in the pre-literacy stage.
Why 150 books draws attention in a country that reads little
The impact of a child reading 122 literary works in a year is explained by the contrast with the national average. The Reading Portraits in Brazil survey, in its sixth edition, released in November 2024 by the Instituto Pró-Livro, showed that 47% of the population was classified as readers, compared to 53% of non-readers. The average number of books read per year fell from 4.95 to 3.96, the lowest level in the entire historical series started in 2007.
The numbers become even more modest when counting only books read from start to finish. In this segment, the average was 0.82 books per respondent in the analyzed quarter, and the home appeared as the reading place for 86% of readers. The survey, coordinated by Zoara Failla and conducted in 208 municipalities, helps to understand why a milestone like Maria Clara’s causes surprise.
What science says about forming a child reader
The strategies described by the family align with what the scientific literature recommends for forming readers. In September 2024, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guidance on childhood reading for the first time since 2014, in a document published in the journal Pediatrics and signed by pediatrician Perri Klass. The entity recommends reading aloud to the child from birth and at least until school entry, a practice associated with language, cognition, and brain development.
The same guidance highlights that printed books tend to be richer than screens for this stimulation. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, screens and devices usually offer a passive and solitary experience, while shared reading is interactive and creates bonding. This point aligns with the method reported by the family, which combines daily read-aloud sessions and limited screen time for children.
The limits of measuring reading by the number of books
Reading specialists warn that counting books says little about what was actually understood. Research gathered by the National Reading Plan of Portugal indicates that more than quantity, the quality of the works and the conversation built around the story matter. A methodological note is also worth mentioning, since out of the 150 titles attributed to Maria Clara, 122 are standalone literary works and 28 are books that make up the Bible, a single volume internally divided into different books.
There is also the risk of turning reading into a numbers competition. Studies cited by reading promotion institutions show that children who read for pleasure expand their vocabulary more than those who read out of obligation, and the NeuroSaber Institute summarizes the recommendation by stating that “quality is more important than quantity.” The aim is not to diminish the family’s effort but to remind that evidence values comprehension and mediation, not speed.
Similar cases have already been documented in Brazil
Maria Clara’s case is not the first report of a Brazilian child with high-volume reading. In 2019, Kamila Wagner Rabello from Rio Grande do Sul, then 12 years old, read 231 books in less than a year in a literary challenge, an episode reported by the Terra portal, with a profile monitored by her parents. Such stories appear with some regularity and usually originate from family records on social networks.
The common trait in these cases is that the numbers come from personal accounts, rarely audited by third parties. Therefore, the most solid data is not the book count, but the set of practices and benefits already documented by science. It is this verifiable axis that sustains the journalistic interest in the topic, beyond the number that goes viral.
Maria Clara’s journey functions less as a record and more as a showcase of a habit that Brazil practices little. Whatever the exact number of books, the case brings back to the center of the debate the role of the family, the school, and access to works in forming readers from childhood. In a country where more than half of the population does not read, any encouragement to read tends to be celebrated, as long as it is without pressure and respects each child’s pace.
And you, what was the last book you read, and how many books do you think a child should read per year? Share your opinion in the comments
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