Books for very reluctant to read 7 year old DS

[Britchic]

Hi all

My 7yr old (nearly 8) DS has so little interest in reading.

He's ok at it (middle of the class) but just doesn't want to read for pleasure. While I'm not going to push him against his will, if I could get books he'd love it would be great.

We've tried Horrid Henry and Captain Underpants - both a bit too tricky. At a book fair he's bought Ninjago books and Beast Quest - both way too tricky. I've been looking online at David Walliams books and Mr Gum, but I think they're too hard as well.

He does sometimes read my younger DS's level 6 Kipper books voluntarily, which I'm happy with (because it means he's reading), but they don't keep him interested for long.

Please.... any recommendations???!!!

Thanks so much

Have you tried Horrid Henry early readers? Usborne Beginners books are great - lots of non-fiction titles with simple text, they're really interesting and don't feel babyish. Marcia Williams does a line of comic style books - Robin Hood, Sinbad, King Arthur etc that encouraged DS1 to read when he could, but got a bit daunted by the thickness of chapter books.

horrid henry do early reader versions, early reader books generally are shorter and have bigger text, some pictures still but are chapter book sized.

have you tried him with the Lighthouse Keeper books by Ronda and David Armitage? they have been printed in 2 formats. as longer story picture books but also as early reader style books. They are nice stories, not too long and a good starting point as they still have colour pictures.

oh yes forgot the Usborne beginners ones - they are great, LOADS of different subjects from the body to under the sea, space - lots of animals, nature, science. It may be he prefers non fiction, some kids love it and some hate it. my eldest likes lots of the usborne lift the flap books, she likes being able to find out about things.

My ds's loved Jeremy Strong books at seven www.jeremystrong.co.uk/

DS age 7 is not a great reader either and doesn't like Horrid Henry !

We read Diary of a Wimpy Kids books at bedtime which he loves - I figure that even though he isn't reading them himself it is encouraging him to enjoy books.

He was very taken with a library book on his school topic though and voluntarily worked his way through a few pages so maybe non fiction maybe the way to go.

Any of the Tom Gates books by Liz Pichon. They're in the form of a diary with lots of doodles, jokes and a bit subversive. Not much text on a page so not too daunting.
We liked the Early Reader series too.

There is a Boys Rule! series. I am more familiar with Girls Rule!, but they are very popular. Maybe Beast Quest as well?

DS3 enjoyed these in Y2/Y3:

Astrosaurs & Astrosaurs Academy(Steve Cole).
Secret Agent Jack Stalwart (E.S.Hunt).
Oliver Moon (Sue Mongredien).
Dinosaur Cove (Rex Stone).

Now he is a little older, he likes:
Humphrey books (Betty Birney).
How to Train Your Dragon & sequels (Cressida Cowell).
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Jeff Kinney).
Tom Gates series (Liz Pichon).
Mr Gum (Andy Stanton).
Big Nate (Lincoln Pierce).

I think a lot of these recommendations will be too tricky if Horrid Henry, Captain Underpants and BQ are currently too hard. Although lots of great recommendations for once he does really get into reading!

Just a thought - how about audiobooks? We have a Roald Dahl set (Esio Trot etc) and some Mr Gum ones - if he got familiar with the stories, he might feel more confortable trying to read the books?

He might enjoy "A Boy and a Bear in a Boat" something a bit different.

We started out with some Star Wars and Marvel early readers, which at least held his attention - maybe something like that? Then books that really made a big difference for my ds (now 8) were the Big Nate and Wimpy Kids series. I think the combination of comic and reading helped. He went from a very slow reader to well above his age level in less that 6 months and now reads all sorts of chapter books less that 12 months after starting out.

Oxford university press have a range called 'Project X', aimed specifically at boys written for a lower reading level but high interest. The intended market is schools but you can get some on amazon- have a look on the OU website if you're interested as it should give some info on the banding.

spamm - great minds - I remembered this morning that DS really liked the Star Wars / Clone Wars graphic novel early readers. The other thought I had was annuals - lots of different types of writing in them, in really short bursts.

Wow, I went away for a day and came back to all these fab recommendations!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply, I'll go through them one by one and try to work out which he'd like. Might get him doing some online shopping with me to get his interest going!

Thank you very much!!

Just noticed this thread. When my son started to 'free' read we had difficulty finding books that were easy enough.
This is what we started with:

Mr Men
Thomas library
Usborne beginners-factual with coloured pages-absolutely loved!

Mudpuddle farm-Michael Morpurgo-short early reader type-black and white illustrations (Age appropriate for age 5/6 up)

Mr Majeika (chapter)-easier than HH
Flat stanley
The owl that was afraid or the dark
Dinosaur cove- the newer versions are more spread out i think and have collector cards!

Then we moved on to:

Astrosaurs
Cows in action
Horrid henry
Jack Stalwart
Sea Quest 1-4. Awaiting the release of the next 4!
Easier Roald Dahl-magic finger, fantastic Mr fox etc
Mr Gum
Also hope to try-secret seven/Jeremy strong!

I would definitely second the comics/graphic novel idea. With my son it's a slightly different issue (he is bilingual so his English reading was always a bit behind) but he loved looking through the comics/annuals (we got him Star Wars annuals for years as well as Asterix and Tintin starting at about age 7) and now, at 13, he's a great reader in both languages. It's important to continue reading to him, with him looking at the words as you go. He might be tempted to read a book himself when you have already read it to him.

How about the club penguin/ sky landers books they have bite size bits on each page about the characters rather actually being stories iykwim. Ds will read these for hours and knows all the 'facts' but give him a novel an he gets bored- overwhelmed by the number of words I think...

DS is very similar, and much prefers fact rather than fiction and has just discovered horrible histories!

Joke books are also fab. The HH ones are very popular here and usually available at a reasonable price on the Book People.
Guiness Book of Records and Ripleys Believe it or Not is easy to dip into for short periods. The photos entice you to find out how long the longest tongue is or how many tattoos someone has.

Have you tried the library? There is a whole shelf of stuff that is Early Reader level in ours and it's good for trying out stuff before you buy. Will now try to think of some good stuff for you:

Magic Tree House
Action Dogs
Jack Stalwart
Seriously Silly books
Anything by Frank Rogers (Witch's Dog etc)
Boys Rule
Jeremy Strong Pirate School
The Usborne Book for Boys
The Beano
The Ha Ha Bonk Book
Billy Bonkers
Usborne Books- series one and two

Some might be a bit immature for him, but I have found it is normally me that thinks things are too young for him rather than him so see how you go!

Meant to say, have you tried reading the first chapter/ten pages or so of the book to him? Sometimes I think that helps them access it/dare to try.

Thanks so much everyone! Really appreciate your replies and I will have a look at all of those.

So far (after earlier recommendations) he's really enjoyed Dinosaur Cove, and is about to move on to Oliver Moon... fingers crossed it's not to hard.

Thanks so much!