Thousands of children who are doing well when they leave primary school fail to make any significant progress over the next three years, according to a Government report.
Many of the pupils are easily bored, shun books and feel too embarrassed to ask for help from teachers or parents, the Department for Children study found.
The report warned that pupils - especially boys - regard punctuation as a "chore" and struggle to write long passages, while some rely too heavily on "writing frames" handed out by teachers.
School libraries should make bookshop-style recommendations to encourage more boys to read for pleasure, the study said.
Online bookstore Amazon suggests titles to customers as they browse for authors and tags saying: "If you liked this, why not try this?" could be used in schools.
Young people's minister Kevin Brennan said: "Fostering a young person's passion for reading can help them on many levels.
"This report brings out the links between reading for pleasure and academic performance. Boys tend to make slower progress, and read less, than girls.
"That is why we are funding every secondary school library to acquire new books targeted at teenage boys, exactly the age group covered in this report."
Primary school test results last week showed that 40% of 11-year-olds failed to get up to scratch in their national reading, writing and maths tests this year. But a significant number of those who did master the three Rs aged 11 will fall behind by the time they reach 14.
The study recommended that schools intervene earlier - in year 8, for example - and give children extra lessons as soon as they start to fall behind, rather than waiting until year 9 when they sit their national tests.
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