Has anyone found anything their reluctant reader actually enjoys reading?

[Dramatic]

DD is 9. She has hated reading since she started learning in reception, she found it difficult and still does so any suggestion of reading anything is met with moans and groans and refusals. She won't even read things that would be beneficial to her (instructions for a game or craft activity).

She has ADHD which complicates things a bit and I suspect some form of dyslexia too.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things their reluctant readers have enjoyed?

Also I second everyone who said subscribing to the Phoenix and even Beano was a great move, although I've had to cancel our subscription recently :(

Isadora Moon here for Dd9 who is very reluctant reader. There's a Mirabelle and Esmeralda range too by the same author. I picked up some Amelia Fang books but she's intimidated by the text volume.

Our DS was reluctant and mildly dyslexic, he took off, reading Osborne Puzzle Adventure books where you choose the direction the story goes in. They have some illustrations and puzzles as the reader proceeds.
Other than that, he enjoyed What Computer magazine, no surprise he’s in the IT industry.

Op when you say eyes tested has she been beyond a basic NHS eyes test and had behavioural optometry? It's expensive but an in depth proper eye test.

They can't diagnose anything but can tell you re eye issues.
Ours took 2 hours.

Re reading has she been forced to do phonics?

That would kill any child's love of reading.

Can you go back to basics with her to get her up to speed.

DD8 is not a keen or good reader (we lived outside the UK and so she started late and has a short attention span).

She likes Captain underpants, tom gates, the Hilda comics (rare female protagonist), bunny Vs monkey & the City of Dragons comics (also female main character). Also any non fiction related to an interest. She's also enjoying The Bolds and can just about read them on her own. Toto the Ninja Cat was also a hit.

Warrior cats and how to train your dragon are a bit hard I think, lots of blocky text and takes a while for the story to get going (I also find warrior cats dull...). Her 11 yo sister who is an excellent reader likes Warrior Cats.

Yy to a audio books if she will listen (mine wouldn't) and also I found films and series I could watch with dd stop, what's the character like, describe, what's going to happen next...

13 Storey treehouse

@Dinnerplease you have just reminded me6, my super reader dd1 read lots then got into these and encouraged her good pal to get into them who wasn't a reader. Then dd 2 wasn't a reader and also got into them.

Op definitely worth a try

Ds 2 also enjoyed comic books many are now actual books

Lottie Brooks

Another vote for the Beano. Did the trick with my grandson.

My very reluctant reader turned out to be dyslexic.

I agree with all the storey treehouse, dogman comic-type books. He also likes surprisingly sophisticated non-fiction (DK have some lovely books with fantastic pictures and also smallish chunks of quite challenging text. Anything space or human body related is a winner in this house!)

He also listens to loads of audio books. Little Badman is a firm comedy favourite.

Tom Gates books and The Guinness Book of Records.

Another vote for 13 storey treehouse and Tom Gates.

The Phoenix comic

Dogman
bunny vs monkey
isadora moon
Tom gates
Many storey treehouse books
Adam kaye

I wouldn’t do stuff like how to train dragon yet till the bug is in a bit. Defo not warriors (the cats) - way too demanding.

Horrid Henry... my Year 2 child hates reading but loved these books.

Most children are put off reading by being offered/pushed to read things that are too difficult:

• too long

• too many words
• too detailed/hard to understand

If their reading skills are weak everything takes too long and they never get the practise they need to speed up. Slow reading is laborious & never enjoyable.

Take it right back a notch on complexity. Find things that provide text but in short, digestible chunks. Magazines are good for this, joke books, comics and graphic novels. Put subtitles on on the tv - you want to expose them to text all the time to get them to the stage where decoding it is quick and automatic, freeing up mental capacity to understand and enjoy the content.

The Hilda graphic novels would be worth a try. Mine loved those and was also a very reluctant reader. Someone also suggested non-fiction and perhaps the kids Guinness Book of Records. Sounds strange but you can get satisfaction out of manageable chunks. Good luck!

13 story treehouse hooked my unenthusiastic reader when he was 8. He's nearly 10 now and an avid reader - never thought I'd see the day!

And ignore literary quality at first. Just focus on getting the process of accessing the text faster & easier - so poorly written/repetitive football biographies & fairy books etc are fine, as are books based on tv shows.

You will never get a child reading and enjoying more difficult literary content until you've got their reading speed up.

I know it’s been mentioned but deffo Dogman, BUNNY v Monkey, Looshkin, the beano annuals or comics, the dandy, Big Nate. Captain underpants. Basically any of the graphic novels/comic style books with pictures

I've got one of these. I'm an English teacher of many, many years, so I have tried everything. She was never massively into stories when she little though, even though I read every night. Library to choose books every week. Her older sister was an avid reader and dd2 would choose books.
Dd2 hated learning to read, but she totally got phonics, better than dd1. Has much better spelling too, but dd1 has a better vocab and understanding. Dd2 is my maths and physical exercise kid. I've occasionally dithered between suspecting autism , for various reasons, and adhd.

Having my own dd hate reading has kind of made me re think my life choices a bit😁 How can I hope to inspire other people's kids, if I can't inspire my own?

DS1 was quite dyslexic, really struggled with reading in primary school, and didn't see the point. As he fell further behind chronological age, the reading scheme ("The Utterly Tedious Non-Aventures of Boff, Twitter and Chap") got even duller for him. He was diagnosed as dyslexic aged 9, then had a reading age of just over 6. Reading for school homework was blood, toil, sweat, tears and tantrums - and that was just me.
The thing that got him to see the point was Harry Potter. My Mum and sister borrowed him as child cover to excuse their visit took him to Harry Potter studios, then watched the films with him, and he wanted to read the books, so he finally saw the point in reading. He put more into the remedial literacy lessons, etc, and was really proud of himself when he could read the HP books.
Writing has always been a bit trickier, but the combination of remedial literacy tuition, yellow overlays and paper and effort on his part has made all of it easier and more interesting for him, and his reading age had shot ahead to 13 yrs 6 months by the time he was 12.

Dd (also adhd) likes:

bunny versus monkey
the various bash street/beano books
the Pam Buchart books like ‘there’s a yeti in the playground’
the city of dragons graphic novels
wings of fire graphic novels
warrior cats
rainbow grey series
marnie moon series

Ah yes forgot about Pamela Butchart