How do I move dd1 on?

[pigsinmud]

Dd1 (11 in a couple of days) loves reading. She takes a book everywhere and will read at every opportunity even if she only gets through half a page. Actually, it can be quite annoying as she tries to do most things with one hand as the other is holding a book!

Anyway, I feel she should be moving on with her reading. She will re-read the same books over and over - Famous Five, Dork Diaries. She has 2 older brothers, one of which is also an avid reader so we have lots of slightly older books, but she won't read them. Ds2 tried to get her reading The Spook's Apprentice, but she gave up after 30 pages.

Part of me thinks it doesn't matter, but on the other hand I think it would really help her vocabulary to read some older books. She has been reading The Famous Five for nearly 6 years?! Surely she's bored of them.

Any suggestions?

Harry potter? Or take her to the library and see what happens.

You can't force these things.

HAs she got any other hobbies/interests - my DD loves dancing so loved Ballet Shoes.
She is of a similar age to your DD and has enjoyed a lot of Noel Streatfield and E Nesbitt. I think the stories relate quite well for younger minds, but because they are older books the language is more challenging.
She also enjoyed the Alex Rider books, the Lauren St John books (White giraffe etc, Laura Marlin series and One dollar horse series), Harry Potter and is currently reading the first of the Dark Materials trilogy.

Another thing that works quite well when DD is trying something new is if we read the first chapter or two to her just to get her started - she will then carry on with the book.

Thanks for the suggestions. Dh read Harry Potter to her a couple of years ago and she read a couple of them by herself.

I have all my old copies of the E Nesbitt books. That's a good idea to read the first couple of chapters to her. She is quite young compared to a lot of her year 6 friends - even though she's a lot more sensible than most of them!

I tried to get her having 2 books on the go - reading a Famous Five alongside a slightly older book. I think she read about 6 FFs before she'd finished the older one!

I was like this at your daughters age. I read the st Clare's and Malory towers and Trebizon books over and over again. I was a bit obsessive. Then I started secondary school and my eyes and experiences widened. I started mixing with other children who had different backgrounds and upbringings and ethnicities, and I wanted to find out more about other cultures and lifestyles and whatever. Maybe it will be the same for your daughter.

DD2's like this. She's 11 yo and reads a mixture of (carefully selected) adult books and everything down to Rainbow fairies.
But she did spend a very long time where she seemed to be stuck on books that were easy for her.

What i did was get a couple of books that I knew she would love, but wouldn't start, and read the first couple of chapters to her. By the end of that she was grabbing the book off me to continue. I had to do this for a few times before she was choosing more complicated ones. Sometimes she was less enamoured with them, in which case after a few chapters I'd have something I needed to do for a few minutes, and when I came back she was almost always reading by herself.

I wouldn't worry too much. I was a very good reader but I really had no interest in reading older books. When I was 11 I loved reading Enid Blyton, Chalet School and Dick King Smith books. I do remember being a bit embarrassed about the books I read because so many of my friends were reading adult books in yr7/8ish but I didn't want to and I liked the ones I was reading (and probably read a lot more than they did). A year or so later though I still didn't want to read the older books but I discovered autobiographies and I was away with those really. I read loads of different ones. I think the time was just right for me then but I hated people trying to push me to read things I didn't want to. I still enjoyed reading more childish books for a lot longer than others (well that they admitted to but then I didn't admit it either so who knows what they were reading at home) but I don't think it mattered.

I think part of the problem is the subject matter is, for many children that age, not really suitable for them. I didn't want to read murder mysteries, I preferred the safety of a story that I knew wouldn't give me nightmares or stress me out.
what about things like Paddington, Noel Streatfield if she likes dancing stuff, Just William etc where the content is fine and straightforward but the language might be a bit more challenging?

I think the only thing you can do is make other books available and let her make the decision to move on - reading favourite stories is very comforting and but perhaps seeing her friends read other books or moving to secondary school might be the event that makes her move on with her books.

There is a new series out by Robin Stevens called the Wells and Wong Mystery series. The first book was Murder Most Unladylike. It is age appropriate and a bit of a mix of Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. You could see if they appeal.

Thank you all. I help with reading with my year 4 dd's class and I suppose I was looking at the books they were reading and thinking - gosh that's what dd1 is reading and she's 2 years older!

She is fearful of the future I think. She knows about puberty and is slightly scared by what's to come, so I totally understand the rereading of safe books. I don't think she wants to move on to secondary school either!

Weirdly, the day I start this thread, she comes home from school and says she wants to read The Hobbit! So she's giving that a go.

She's such a sweet, gentle, naive little thing that I don't want to push her on. I was a little concerned looking at her friends' reading material, that she was way behind in growing up! I'm glad there are others out there. I will stop worrying and let her enjoy the books she loves.

Thank you.

What about Lauren Child's Ruby Redfort series or Lauren St John's Laura Marlin series? They're both (esp the Lauren St John ones) almost like Blyton in style, in terms of nice, innocent and old-fashioned detective scenarios, but they are set in the present day and have excellent strong female girl characters.

she isn't way behind in growing up, she just isn't in a hurry to do so and that isn't a bad thing. especially nowadays.

has she read Moondial, Charlotte Sometimes and books like that? Charlotte sometimes is still in print but Moondial would have to be second hand. worth it though I think, I remember loving them in Yr6.

You could read her something and deliberately leave off at an exciting part. Then she has the choice whether to pick up where you left off by herself or wait maybe several days for you to come back.

It always worked with my two (as long as the book is interesting enough).

Mainly though, i'd just agree with the others who say just let her get on with it at her own pace. If she likes reading, then it will come in its own time.

I would agree with just William - the language is really challenging for modern children

Oh and chalet school- there are dozens, though you may get requests for kaffee und kuchen!

Nancy Drew mysteries, swallows and amazons series, secret garden etc

My parents used to have a bookshop, and we heard this all the time! Personally, I read nothing but pony books until I was at least 12, and read and re-read them all hundreds of times. By 14 I was on Jane Austen, via the Flambards books.

Leave it, don't worry, let her get on with it.

I feel your pain.My 10 year old is on her 7th re read of the HP series.

Have to say I banned them for a while as they do need a range.Personally I think the books you mention are a tad simplistic for a good reader and she will be missing out on a huge wealth of vocabulary.

Why don't you try similar books of the same genre ie Ruby Redfort,Laura Marlin,Malcom Saville etc.Dd read and loved Frost Hollow Hall at Christmas that was a mystery.

All very odd - it's as if dd1 has read this. Yesterday I found a pile of Enid Blyton books outside her room. I asked her about them and she said they're too young for her.