This report presents baseline information about the degree to which children and young people in Middlesbrough enjoy reading and writing, how often then engage in reading and writing, what types of materials they read and write and how they feel about reading and writing. It also outlines baseline information about their confidence in their own communication skills and how they feel about communication skills generally. To contextualise the information about children's and young people's literacy in Middlesbrough, their responses are compared with a sample taken from our wider national survey that has been matched to Middlesbrough's general profile in terms of gender and free school meal uptake. Overall, 3,427 children and young people from 25 schools within the Middlesbrough local authority participated in the National Literacy Trust's annual literacy survey in November/December 2012. As many boys as girls took part (boys: 49.7%; girls: 50.3%). Reflecting the socioeconomic reality within the local authority, the sample contains more children and young people who say that they receive free school meals (25.8% compared to 16.7% nationally). Findings are presented in this report. An introduction to the annual literacy survey is appended.