My 7 year old doesn't like reading

[Crunchymum]

She's just started year 3, can read independently but she doesn't enjoy it.

Any ideas of books that could pique her interest? Any tips or suggestions?

It's alien as me, DP and older DC are readers. I've never had to "force" someone to read / enjoy reading before.

Had she been to a book shop to choose her own?

My daughter is the same. I was an avid reader as a child, and younger DC loves to read too.

The only books my daughter gets excited about are the Isadora Moon books.

I also got an Audible account and she loves listening to Harry Potter (loves the films), but refused to read them. I am working on the basis that listening to them is better than nothing.

If she can read enough to read instructions, signs, questions on a worksheet etc and can fully understand what those signs/questions mean then does it matter if she doesn't want to read books?
Not everyone like stories.
However you could try non fiction. What are her interests?

What about a magazine subscription. That way she gets something in the post just for her each month which is always nice. There's all sorts from nature, science, comics, one call Phoenix and another called Chickadee are supposed to be good too. If you Google magazine subscription for 7 year olds you'll find ideas .

We found David Walliams' books helped move DD on from Horrid Henry level.
Then 'Animal Ark' books by Lucy Daniels I think.
Also the Stitchhead books by Guy Bass.

We also had a a lot of success with audio books on CD so DD could pick up language without reading (turned out to be dyslexic). e.g. She enjoyed Roald Dahl on audio but could never manage reading them.

Don't force it. I was a voracious reader as a kid and mostly still am. I wanted my kids to be the same. They're not. It took a while to adjust to that. I can read so quickly no believes I've read a book but can tell it back verbatim. I'm Autistic.

Dts finally got diagnosed at the extreme end of dyslexia in y6.

I have 10 and 12 year old dds. They hate it too. One is dyslexic but she can read. I've bought so many different types of books. Goosebumps David Walliams. Twilight etc. I hate handing the youngest ones reading record in.

We could all suggest books, but I agree that taking her to a book shop or library and letting her pick something will probably be the most effective. My two loved completely different books so whatever I'd recommend for one wouldn't interest the other.

The library where she can mooch. We did bedtime reading which always relaxed ours then both did a page each for a bit. I really missed lying on the bed with them when they out grew it

Thanks for the input.

We go to the library regularly, she just isn't interested in anything (it's not the biggest library to be fair). They also have a school library where they are able to pick a book a week. She just seems to grab something for the sake of it and never has any interest in reading it.

No concerns about dyslexia.

Will try an actual book shop and see if that makes a difference. We used to live near a Borders but it's now flats 🙄

Year 3 has a different format for their reading diary and they now have to answer specific questions about the weekly book they read. We can't get away with just reading some of a book!!!

If she can read fluently don't worry.
It's disappointing if DC don't enjoy reading for pleasure especially if you love reading yourself but I view it like swimming, a certain level of expertise is needed but you don't have to take it up as a hobby.
DS1 could read fluently at 5 but seldom read voluntarily after age 8. A few scientific books perhaps. It didn't stop him achieving top grades in everything.
DS2 was a slow starter and a very reluctant reader at first but still reads for pleasure as an adult.

Having said all that if her reading isn't fluent then you need to find what interests her. Non-fiction worked for DS2 when he was struggling - books on animals and nature.

Try lots of different types of books - poems, comic books, books which have a mixture of print and pictures, non-fiction. My dd was the same and really got into reading through comic books, but still doesn’t often choose to read for pleasure. She prefers playing and listening to podcasts/stories. She does like books she can dip in and out of such as horrible histories. When she finds a series she really likes she will read a novel in a day or two!

DS never particularly into reading either with the exception of non fiction or magazines. Adored those national geographic kids encyclopaedias. I was a huge reader as a child and read everything so it was new to me.

Isadora Moon was the series that got 7yo DD into reading, but she’s so different from her sister who has to be told to put her book away!

Following because my year 3 child is the same! The Beano comic helped for a while until he got bored. Not looking forward to when he starts bringing books home again from school.

Maybe try books like Dogman, Big Nate or Investi-gators, which are more like graphic novels/comics. Diary of a wimpy kid is also very popular for yr3/4 kids.

My dd is 9 and doesn't like reading books without pictures anymore. But, as long as she is reading, it doesn't matter. We got her a Beano subscription during lockdown and she reads them more than once. Maybe take the pressure off by opening up various styles of books to your dd. Our local library puts the graphic novel type books away from the fiction books, they're in the early numbers section of the non fiction (which seems daft to me).

Mine prefer non-fiction books and graphic novels/comics. They both read well, but never had the love for it or got 'lost in a book' the way I used to. Some people just don't and get their kicks elsewhere, which is fine. Keep encouraging, but there's nothing wrong with her if she has other interests.

Stick to audio books if that is what she enjoys at the moment. If she has a hobby or an interest, a sport or a pet you might find she is more interested in books that inform rather than entertain. I bet there are millions of kids who will turn up their noses at a fiction book but will read voraciously about dogs, horses, dinosaurs, fishing,Guinea pigs,knitting, home baking, cars, football etc etc.

Reading for information , being able to follow instructions, knowing how to classify and categorise, being able to extract information from headings, illustration captions and footnotes, understanding how to use an index or a glossary, are as valuable and valid skills as developing an understanding of how authors use character development, inference and plot.