Original research · 2026
The Summer Reading List Reckoning
By Scrivy Research · Published July 28, 2026 · Survey of 2,500 U.S. adults
We asked 2,500 Americans who really did the summer reading. 1 in 6 parents finished their kid's assigned book for them, 58% have claimed a classic they never finished, and the most lied-about book in America is 1984.
Why is an author-tools company fact-checking bookshelves? Scrivy makes tools for people who finish books, so we study the gap between the reader America claims to be and the reader it is. Back-to-school season felt like the honest moment to ask.
- 1 in 6
- parents finished the kid’s summer-reading book
- 58%
- claimed a classic they never finished
- 66%
- of 1984’s “readers” never finished it
- 31%
- have bluffed a book club
What the data says
#1 Minnesota
America’s most honest readers
Finishes 74% of the classics it claims to have read; only 19% have ever bluffed a book club.
#50 California
America’s biggest book bluffers
44% have bluffed their way through a book-club meeting, and the classics finish rate is 41%.
4.9
The Walden Paradox
Massachusetts claims more classics than any state and finishes the smallest share of them (39%). The home of American letters talks a better game than it reads.
1 in 4
Georgia’s homework parents
24% of Georgia parents finished their kid’s summer-reading book for them, the highest rate in the nation.
41%
Illinois never left study hall
More Illinois adults still lean on SparkNotes-style summaries than anywhere else in America.
#2 Montana
Montana doesn’t lie about books
Claims the fewest classics in the country (2.1 of 10) but finishes 81% of what it claims, the best follow-through anywhere.
More from the study: the average American claims 3.4 classics from our 10-title checklist and actually finished 1.9, and 34% of adults admit they still reach for SparkNotes-style summaries instead of the book.
America's most-faked classics
Ranked by the share of claimed readers who never finished the book.
| # | Book | Claim to have read it | Of those, finished it | Fake rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1984George Orwell | 41% | 34% | 66% |
| 2 | Moby-DickHerman Melville | 28% | 36% | 64% |
| 3 | War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy | 19% | 37% | 63% |
| 4 | UlyssesJames Joyce | 12% | 39% | 61% |
| 5 | Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky | 22% | 41% | 59% |
| 6 | Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen | 36% | 43% | 57% |
| 7 | The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald | 47% | 45% | 55% |
| 8 | Catch-22Joseph Heller | 25% | 46% | 54% |
| 9 | To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee | 52% | 48% | 52% |
| 10 | The Catcher in the RyeJ. D. Salinger | 39% | 50% | 50% |
The Literary Honesty Index, all 50 states
Composite of classics finish rate (40%), book-club bluff rate (35%, inverted), and parents-did-the-reading rate (25%, inverted), normalized 0–100. High scores read what they claim. Tap a state for its numbers.
United States
58% have claimed a classic they never finished · 31% have bluffed a book club. Tap a state for its numbers
| # | State | Index | Finishes claims | Bluffed a club | Parents did it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota | 82 | 74% | 19% | 11% |
| 2 | Montana | 78 | 81% | 21% | 14.6% |
| 3 | North Dakota | 76 | 64.3% | 23% | 14% |
| 4 | Wisconsin | 75 | 63.4% | 27.8% | 15.5% |
| 5 | Nebraska | 74 | 63.7% | 26.3% | 16.5% |
| 6 | Missouri | 68.7 | 61.7% | 29.8% | 15.1% |
| 7 | Idaho | 66.9 | 57.6% | 28% | 16.6% |
| 8 | Indiana | 65.5 | 60.5% | 29.8% | 15.8% |
| 9 | New Mexico | 64.5 | 58.7% | 30.8% | 16% |
| 10 | Michigan | 63.9 | 58.2% | 29.4% | 16.9% |
| 11 | Mississippi | 63.4 | 53.7% | 31% | 16.7% |
| 12 | Oklahoma | 62 | 57% | 31.1% | 18.9% |
| 13 | Alaska | 61.6 | 56.7% | 30.1% | 16.7% |
| 14 | Kansas | 59.5 | 52.5% | 35.7% | 19.3% |
| 15 | Virginia | 59 | 55.4% | 33.7% | 18.4% |
| 16 | Washington | 58.6 | 56.3% | 36.1% | 18% |
| 17 | Arizona | 58.2 | 52.3% | 32.9% | 19.7% |
| 18 | Hawaii | 58.2 | 56.2% | 32% | 19.4% |
| 19 | Illinois | 57.7 | 50.8% | 35.6% | 18.8% |
| 20 | Utah | 57.6 | 52.7% | 35.1% | 20.4% |
| 21 | Nevada | 57.5 | 51.8% | 35.8% | 20% |
| 22 | Pennsylvania | 57.3 | 53.7% | 36.9% | 19.4% |
| 23 | Colorado | 57 | 52.1% | 35% | 20.2% |
| 24 | Ohio | 56.8 | 53.7% | 34.9% | 18.3% |
| 25 | South Dakota | 55.8 | 55% | 37.5% | 20.5% |
| 26 | Kentucky | 55.5 | 49.7% | 35.3% | 18.6% |
| 27 | Iowa | 55.4 | 52.4% | 33.9% | 18.6% |
| 28 | Wyoming | 54.9 | 54.5% | 34.7% | 20.4% |
| 29 | Louisiana | 54.7 | 54.5% | 33.9% | 19.9% |
| 30 | Arkansas | 53.6 | 51.7% | 35.4% | 19.7% |
| 31 | Oregon | 53.3 | 50.5% | 37.2% | 20.5% |
| 32 | Texas | 53.3 | 49.3% | 38.2% | 18.8% |
| 33 | Maine | 53.2 | 52.1% | 35.3% | 19.7% |
| 34 | Tennessee | 53.1 | 48.4% | 35.7% | 20.3% |
| 35 | Alabama | 52 | 53% | 37.2% | 19.2% |
| 36 | Massachusetts | 52 | 39% | 33% | 20.1% |
| 37 | North Carolina | 50.7 | 49.5% | 39% | 19.8% |
| 38 | South Carolina | 50 | 47.7% | 36.8% | 20% |
| 39 | West Virginia | 50 | 47.7% | 40.2% | 19.6% |
| 40 | Florida | 49.8 | 49.3% | 38.6% | 21.8% |
| 41 | New York | 48.5 | 48.1% | 37.4% | 20.3% |
| 42 | Georgia | 47 | 50.9% | 38.8% | 24% |
| 43 | Rhode Island | 46.8 | 48.4% | 41.3% | 22% |
| 44 | New Hampshire | 46.7 | 45.9% | 37.6% | 22% |
| 45 | Vermont | 46.2 | 47.2% | 37.9% | 22% |
| 46 | Delaware | 39 | 42.3% | 42% | 22% |
| 47 | Connecticut | 38 | 45% | 42% | 22% |
| 48 | Maryland | 37 | 40.8% | 42% | 22% |
| 49 | New Jersey | 35 | 42% | 42% | 22% |
| 50 | California | 31 | 41% | 44% | 19% |
Methodology
Who we surveyed. Survey of 2,500 U.S. adults with an oversample of parents of school-age children, fielded July 20–24, 2026 via CloudResearch Connect. Census-balanced on age, gender, and region. State-level figures are weighted; small-state cells carry wider intervals.
How states are ranked. The Literary Honesty Index is a 0–100 composite for each state: the share of claimed classics actually finished (weighted 40%), the share who have bluffed a book club (35%, inverted), and the share of parents who finished their kid's summer-reading book for them (25%, inverted), normalized across all 50 states. High scores read what they claim.
What we asked. Parent status and whether your child had assigned summer reading; whether you did some or all of it for them; which of ten classics you have claimed to have read and which you actually finished; book-club bluffing; SparkNotes-style summaries as an adult; the classic you have been "currently reading" the longest; demographics.
Data access. Full state tables (XLSX), the classic-by-classic claim and finish rates, crosstabs, and print-resolution graphics are available to journalists. Write to support@scrivy.co. Conducted by Scrivy.
Embed the graphic
The interactive state ranking is free to embed, and the dropdown writes the snippet for your market.
<iframe src="https://www.scrivy.co/embed/summer-reading-reckoning" width="100%" height="960" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="The Summer Reading List Reckoning: state results"></iframe>Preview the embed
For press
Full state data tables (XLSX), methodology statement, print-resolution graphics, and spokesperson interviews are available, including embargoed access to upcoming research.
Methodology
The full methodology, survey instrument, and weighting notes are published on this page.