Getting DSD to read

[overthinking]

Hello
Thinking about summer reading for DSD who's 11. . .
She doesn't like reading, and has always struggled with it. A couple of years ago she got into the famous five, which was great, but since her younger sister has started reading them too she says they're babyish and refuses to read them any more. Same with horrible histories.
I've tried everything I can think of: we go to the library and they choose books, we save up and go to the bookshop. She will sit looking at the same page for ages, and then just put the book down.

I think the key problem now is that her younger sister (who is an avid reader) reads much more complex books than her, and she wants to read books which are more 'grown up' but they need to be accessible!

Help - any suggestions?

have you asked her what sort of books she might be interested in? get some sort of theme ideas so you can take it from there. what are her friends reading? what about getting her to start her own book club with her friends?

thats a shame she feels she can't read the books she likes because her sister happens to like reading them too. Could you perhaps explain to her that we all like reading books that we can relax with so there is nothing wrong with wanting to read books she may feel are too young for her. I loved Dick King-Smith and The Chalet School etc at that age. I was too embarrassed to tell my friends that because they were reading more grown up books but I didn't want to read them, I had no interest in them, I was much happier with my innocent younger books if that makes sense. Now I look back I am quite angry that I wasn't more confident about what I chose to read. I read chick lit now not literary classics although I could do if I wanted to but it wouldn't help me relax so I wouldn't enjoy it.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that it isn't just a case of finding out what she wants to read but to build her confidence that it is OK to enjoy younger books still or find some of the others too complex or just boring.

hope that makes sense.

Thanks for your reply.
She likes adventure stories and history. Her friends don't really read much either, a few Jacqueline Wilson books which DSD isn't keen on at all thank goodness but otherwise they like computer games.
She listens to the Famous Five on her ipod as I've downloaded them on for her, but she doesn't like to be seen reading them!

Would she read a non fiction book, about something she is interested in?

It's a shame she feels embarrassed to read easier books than her sister. It's that way of trying to get her to understand that it's not a competition and she should read whatever she likes! How much younger is her sister? Is there any way of explaining that two people can read the same book, but the older person might understand it in a different way and get more out of it? (Trying to think of how to explain that to a child without sounding weird and patronising!)

I still read and enjoy children's books and see absolutely no shame in that! Plus, I thoroughly disapprove of getting children to read books because they're "grown up" and the sort of thing they "should" be reading. I remember being forced to read Oliver Twist as an 11 year old because my mum thought I should be challenging myself. I slogged through it, did finish it, but got absolutely nothing out of it, and then avoided picking up another Dickens' novel until I was in my twenties!

Does she struggle with reading because she's not very good at it, or because she just finds it boring, or because it's not "cool"? I can think of plenty good books for 11 year olds, but what I would recommend would depend on the reason she doesn't read.

You could stop trying so hard!

If there are films/DVDs that are based on novels she enjoys it is always possible that she might want to read the books which inspired them.

Or manga/graphic novels.

Harry Potter is quite good for all ages.

Maybe she'll come to reading in her own way, in her own time. She doesn't have to like doing what her younger sister likes doing...

Have a look at Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson. They're short and the paragraphs are often no more than a page or two but they are not babyish and not are the covers. They're just easy to read. The books are based on the butterfly theory and in each book a butterfly does something that has repercussions around the world. Fast moving and full of adventure. I've reviewed them here: www.booksteensandmagazines.com/search?q=Mortal+chaos and this is a reading list I drew up for 11/12 year olds: www.booksteensandmagazines.com/blog/reading-list-year-7-11-to-12-year-olds
Good luck

Would she feel more comfortable reading from a kindle/iPad rather than showing what she is reading to the world?