I go on a lot about reading in this blog. There are two reasons for this. Firstly because I love reading and I always have and secondly because I think that reading is such an important thing to encourage to everyone; adults and children alike.
We have so many books in this house, I have lost count and the children alone had a small library of books of all types. I have just finished reading David Walliams’s Demon Dentist with L and we both thoroughly enjoyed it and we both experienced a range of emotions throughout the story.
It is the first time in a while that I have seen L enjoy a story so much, he couldn’t wait to pick it up and was quite sad when it was finished. I have blogged before about my struggle with his reading. A struggle with getting him to read rather than being able to read as he can read very well, but to get him to read, it needs to be something that really engages him.
Around eighteen months ago, we felt as though we had hit a brick wall with L’s reading. The books from school weren’t interesting him at all and in spite of the vast array of books on offer here, he just didn’t want to read. It was really frustrating and even more so as I knew that he was really missing out.
It was also around that time that we bought an iPad. L loves gadgets and he soon found his way around the iPad and could be regularly found looking up football results and sports news as that was his obsession at the time. He loved it. Safari was his new best friend and he would be quick to research the answers to any questions he had. It quickly occurred to me that he was reading. Not only was he reading, he was reading texts that were way beyond the level he should have been reading.
Using this as a spring board, my husband introduced L to the sports pages of the good quality newspapers and he lapped them up. It wasn’t books, but he was reading.
I tried buying sport themed magazines and he loved them and for Christmas I bought reference type books, some sport related books and they were a huge hit.
Over time, L rediscovered his love of reading and now we are back with books and he now has a pile of fiction books that he is really keen to read.
Whilst I am hugely relieved that he is now reading willingly again, it is important to remember that there are so many opportunities out there for us to encourage the more reluctant readers. Surely as long as they are reading, it doesn’t matter what it is. L has now started reading the first Percy Jackson book as he saw the film over the summer and he was really inspired. I am so happy to listen to him read and to see how much he is looking forward to going to bed to be able to carry on with the book. It was a uphill struggle, but I am so glad that we persevered.
 |
how old is your reluctant reader? Mine is 11 and has just discovered David Walliams “The Demon Dentist” so perhaps I should sit down and read bits with him to encourage him on. In the summer he had to review Kensuke’s Kingdom for school and I ended up reading all of that to him, to just gbet it done! Just out of interest what time does yours go up to read at bedtime and how long do you let him read? I have 3 kids, oldest is 15 girl and she has always been a total utter book worm. It is not unusual in the summer holidays for her to read 2 books a week! Then we have middle man, nearly 13 and he is rather reluctant. Maybe they feel they can’t compete with their sister? She started out with the Enid Blytons and all those and we still have them all, sitting on the shelves… But the youngest is the most reluctant of all and at times it feels like pushing water uphill. He loves dinosaurs and LEGO and science, so we encourage him to read anything…. It is reading after all. Anything. If you have any tips, please let me know! x
L is a bit younger, he is 8 but can read really well. The problem with having good readers that are younger is that often the content that they are reading is not always appropriate. I found the David Walliams books were great as his style is so light and entertaining, L loved it and so I read some and he read some and that worked well. We tend to go to bed quite early 7 – 730 and they are allowed half an hour or so to read. I found with L that books about things he was interested in really helped and these were non fiction rather than fiction. He loves sport so we bought sports records books and he loved looking at those. He also likes things like the Guiness Book of Records Ripley’s Believe it or Not. I don’t have all the answers but those tactics have helped with mine. I hope that you get there with your son too.
Yay, good news! It took a long time for my eldest to read fiction too, but I could often find him buried in an encyclopedia. He also went through a phase of reading First News. Now he’s always reading fiction as well as his Angler’s Mail!
I had the same problem with my younger son of being an advanced reader at a young age and not being able to find appropriate reading material – even in his school reading books!
It is a real problem and one that I think primary schools do need to try and address.