Reluctant reader stories please!

[Franny1]

Tell me your best reluctant reader stories??

I feel so depressed about the fact that my second kid (8) is such a competent reader and yet has to be strong-armed into starting (or usually also finishing) a book… so many of her friends love reading! We as a family love reading and have read loads to them always, visited library always etc.

I’m not really looking for advice, just hope that this has still changed for some people… she HAS enjoyed reading a few books (and loves being read TO) and she is a very stubborn personality so maybe that has something to do with it!

I had this issue with DC2. I finally realised at age 18 that they were dyslexic. I would not have believed it at age 8. I asked the assessor why neither the primary nor secondary school had noticed and she said that bright children who are not severely dyslexic can easily slip through the net.

At 18, 3 months after completing A-Levels, DC2 suddenly announced to me that it was really annoying that the word ‘pebbles’ came up in A-Level maths so much because it was such a difficult word to read with all the Ps and Bs. I think DC2 thought that eveyone struggled to tell the difference between P and B!

Thanks @dizzydizzydizzy . I could be wrong obviously but I don’t think it’s a dyslexia issue. She’s a very competent reader, but also more to the point she’s just the same with audiobooks!

I’d still try her with a Dyslexia friendly book. The library should have a selection.

The other thing to try is a magazine? When my DS had a reading lull at roughly the sane age I bought him a football magazine and the Beano.

Why do you want her to read? Is it just because you like books and want her to? Are you worried about her vocabulary? Or spelling? Because there are other ways to teach the specific skills that are developed by reading, and strong-arming her into it seems like it's going to be counter-productive in the long run.

My DD was similar - she never got keen on reading fiction though she liked me reading ‘classics’ to her (this continued into her teens esp on holiday). She does read nonfiction - she’s similar to DH.

Part of it was that if she did read a book (eg the Harry Potter series was devoured) she would read it thoroughly not skim, so it took time. Her yr 6 English teacher was visibly put out when she won a competition with questions based on several specific books - she, unlike the favoured voracious readers had read, comprehended and retained.

She’s well-rounded and well-educated. Maybe she’s missed out on some literature but otoh there’s an awful lot of crappy kids and YA fiction - I’m not sorry she never read umpteen books about unicorns or fairies as she found plenty of other arguably more worthwhile things to do.

DC2 was a competent reader too.

DC2 cannot listen to audiobooks, podcasts or radio programmes due to poor language processing, which is common with neurodivergence. (dyslexia is a form of neurodivergence).

Would they be interested in comics, graphic novels or manga? This is the bulk of what my child reads. He will read 'chapter' books too, but only if he's extremely interested in the story being told (so, rarely!).

Not everyone needs to be a reader, forcing it is a sure way to make her less interested.

Some people just don’t read. My boyfriend can read newspapers and other things but he doesn’t read books.

My DB when he was younger did read books but preferred comics. Now he reads novels.

Can she read a book that interests her easily? I’ve found that most children don’t read for pleasure until they can read what is interesting easily.

It does get better, we are now at a point where my 12 year old's reading is a problem because she is at it for hours. And I'm not fooling myself, her phone is downstairs on the side and laptop in the cupboard.

9 year old has also recently transformed.

With both patience, and lots of example setting. I am very boring, for YEARS we had a habit of sitting in bed together for 30 mins before bedtime reading our books. My 9 year old was relatively recently still on bunny v monkey, then got into manga. I did say he had to move onto longer text, because it is important to also get the pictures created in your head and develop attention span that dogman etc do not encourage. By chance, we saw Stranger Things Junior Novelization in the library. I didn't let him watch that show, but that book worked magic. He is now reading Harry Potter by himself, reading before school and alone in bed under covers at night.

My daughter is now obsessed with Twilight books. It's actually a problem, she is reading all day at the weekend.

I never thought it would happen, but I think if they see you regularly reading books it helps a habit.

This is helpful thank you! We also do lots of reading at bedtime (and always have- and I read a LOT myself at home too) but I do a lot of reading TO her and her brother. He now reads to himself afterwards, and she will sometimes but hardly at all. Do you also read TO them during those 30 mins, or do you all sit side by side reading to each other??

Up until very recently, yes, I was and I thought it would never end! . I was still reading to my dd in year 6, admittedly this was shared reading, and plays set by school (which are better aloud anyway). She recently got fed up of the out loud reading and now doesn't join us anymore, and magically younger one also now reads long books in his head. I think he was intimidated by books with no pictures, until one book opened his mind to gerring into it. DD got into a set called Scarlett & Ivy around year 4/5 and that got her going, but still took until very recently before she would read in the day for pleasure.

They need a series that grabs them. My 7/8 yr old cut his teeth on Darren Shan books. I was horrified, but he went through them at high speed them moved on to the Alex Ruders, Harry Potters, and that one with the not at all cute faeries - Irish writer.

They just need to find a series that lights them up.

DS was diagnosed with visual processing disorder just before he turned 11. The correct colour glasses helped to keep the text still when he was reading. Up to that point he’d never understood how people could read out loud quickly when you needed to focus so much to get the letters to stay in one place.

He always understood what he read, Loved being read to and was bright enough. Just never really finished a book,

Once that was sorted, he discovered the love. He mainly read non-fiction, which is still true now.

Stealth boast incoming…..he’s just got his degree result of a 2:1 (an arts subject, heavy on reading and essays). He is starting a masters in September.

Non fiction was the hook for 11 year old dc1.

He's currently wading through a massive tome about diving to the wreck of the RMS Britannic. He was a very reluctant reader outside school up until he discovered a book about the RMS Titanic from the adult non fiction section of the library. Since then he's read what seems like everything ever written on maritime disasters.

Dc2 (8) loves graphic novels and is working her way through a series based in Greek mythology. She is also a very competent reader (youngest in her reading group at school by 2 years) but graphic novels have grabbed her in a way text heavy books just don't.

Have a look at Barrington Stoke dyslexia friendly books if you want to rule it out. They're an inprint of Collins and you should be able to search the library catalogue for them.

Most libraries will be reading their summer reading challenges at the moment. A little bit of gentle competition may help?

My son is the same. His 11yo sister is a bookworm and devours them. He’s a great reader but just hasn’t enjoyed it until he found Tom Gates! It’s not heavy reading but he is reading them, enjoying them and I’m hoping it will lead to more books that are less cartoony.

Went to all the library things with my 2, followed all teachers' advice (voices, role-play, choosing own books etc), and both seemed to enjoy all that, and were very good at reading until Y1-then one stopped being interested. The other adores reading! I talked with the teachers, did all the things, but it's just how it is.
I'm only saying this because people tend to have a habit of blaming parents these days. Ok, my kids are both still young, but so often on here, when an adult commits a crime, everyone blames the parents.
And too many parents blame themselves, and I worry you are. Some people will call me a super parent because one of my kids loves reading, some will call me awful because the other doesn't!