how to encourage a love of reading in dd 6?

[pinklemonade84]

Dd is 6 and is reading at an advanced level compared to her peers in her class. She is currently reading a chapter a day of Fantastic Mr Fox and flying through it.

I’m wanting to try and nurture a love of reading at home with a selection of books. She’s been so excited to do her reading each day, and I really want to build on this. So, I’ve ordered a few options to start her off with. However, I don’t want to overwhelm her by getting too many

So far I’ve ordered her the Worst Witch collection, the first Naughtiest Unicorn, and the first Mummy Fairy and Me book, which should all arrive tomorrow. She’s a sensitive little thing, which is why I haven’t ordered Matilda for her just yet, as I don’t think she would respond well to Miss Trunchbull. She’s not a typical girly girl, so isn’t into princesses etc. I chose the Mummy Fairy and Me book as it sounds more funny than girly

I’m wondering whether to order some more options for her (and if so, what you would recommend), or should I leave it at that for now?

Go to the library every week.

Does she see you reading regularly?

Agree with this one. Definitely.

Go to the library regularly.

Read to her. I would often pick the first in a series to read to both dd's such as the worst witch. I'd read a chapter (or a few) on my bedtime duty night over a few weeks. They would more often than not then continue to read the series, or want to read the book themselves straight after. Sometimes I'd let them pick a book from the library to choose, sometimes I'd choose the book.

Yes, she sees me reading every evening when we start winding down

The problem with taking her to the library at the moment is that when faced with making choices, she tends to kind of shut down and refuse to make a choice. But, I could definitely go and choose her some books while we get a better idea of what she likes

I think the library could be a good option for helping with choice, in that if she doesn't like something she picks she can just swap it, nothing lost, plus she could take a few so it's OK to not like them all or can renew the ones she's not read yet if she does like them. For suggestions what about Alice in wonder or James and the giant peach?

Just be led by what she likes - I'd say don't 'forbid' anything because it's a comic or a picture book or seems to be for younger kids.

Just give her one at a time so as not to overwhelm her (and doesn't end up starting them all but finishing none). My 6yo is at a similar level, and I give her books slightly below her level to read independently so I know she can focus on enjoying the story, rather than ruining the flow by losing her place or having to consciously decode any long unfamiliar words that pop up. Anything that is more of a challenge (that's mostly text density for us ATM) or that has potentially scary elements she reads to me.

When my DD was 6 she loved Isadora moon, daisy books, Amelia fang, dick king Smith.

Make sure youre working on comprehension. My DD could sound out any word going and flew through books so we needed to make sure she actually understood what was happening, could preempt events, re tell the story, think about the emotions and perspectives of different characters etc.

Once my son was reading decent sized books independently and enjoying it (for him it was about age 7) we deliberately kept his bedtime earlier than it really needs to be and let him read once we’ve said goodnight. We generally now have a book we are reading together and then he has one on the go for after ‘good nights’. He has become a pretty avid reader and loves his books. He will sometimes read in the day but with all the other distractions and options, not too often. So this slot in the evening when his choice is sleep or read has really encouraged the reading!

This is good advice. All reading counts! And sometimes (like us) they just want an easy read. My 8yo has a reading age of 14+ (she has surpassed the top of school's testing software), but she still enjoys a comfort re-read of her Flat Stanley books.

Have you seen the website toppsta? Your child can review books and win new books too which encourages lots of literary exploration. We’ve won quite a few titles over the years.

Also keep reading to her. My son is nearly 12 and we still love reading a book together at bedtime so we can discuss plot, characters etc

With Fantastic Mr Fox, I've been getting her to tell her grandparents about the story when we see them. Mil and Fil, seem to enjoy having it retold to them through dd's words. Though dd didn't like using the word "fat" when she was describing Boggis 😂

I'm addicted to browsing for childrens books and do the opposite to some pps... have stocked her bedroom bookshelf with loads of great books and leave it to her- it works and I have to top up.
Did worry at first about her flitting and occasionally she starts one and doesn't pursue it but that's fine- we adults do that too!
Loads of good threads recommending classic children's books on here. Worst Witch is wonderful.

Thank you so much for all of the advice, I really do appreciate it

When the books come, I'll just leave out the first book of the Worst Witch as she's read a page of it already online. That's a good point about not overwhelming her with too many at home and I think I've got myself a bit over excited, not really thinking about how she can get 🤦🏻‍♀️

DD was an amazing reader when little (reading age of 16 by the time she was 8), I allowed her to read the first 3 Harry Potter books by 7 and that completely ruined books for her. No book measured up to the excitement and storytelling. It took years and years to get her properly engaged in books again Captain Underpants and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid finally brought her back into the reading world. I massively regret letting her get too ahead of herself and feel she missed out on many amazing stories despite her reading abilities.

She's in her teens now, won't read a proper novel "too long" have had some success with Hunger Games and Roald Dahl short stories.

She has always preferred non- fiction, so would happily read an atlas or similar factual book which is more pick-up and put-down able without the time commitment.

However, what we have always done is I read to her right up to High school, something more grown up than what she was reading /semi reading to herself, normally with a hot drink which she always enjoyed.

Our dd is same age and also loves reading. We haven't worried about overwhelming and have quite a lot of books around. She reads every night before bed so like other posters we artificially made bedtime earlier. She still loves her transition chapter books (isadora moon, rabbit and bear, Claude and hotel flamingo are favourites). She also loves the faraway tree, daisy books, diary of a wimpy kid and the dick king smith books. We've tried to mix in some non-fiction (find out, little people, big dreams series) and poetry (bit more hit and miss but loves revolting rhymes and dirty beasts and the Julia Donaldson anthology)...
She loves the library...she also likes reading her old pictures books to her little brother (which is helpful at bedtime!)...

We also subscribed to 'the week junior' actually which she really likes too...

Definitely read to her - do ‘voices’ of the characters, discuss plot and talk about what you both enjoy about the book. Maybe try some classics that would be a bit hard for her to read to herself.

We have had huge success with my DS7 reading the Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Usborne followed by the Merlin Missions by the same author. He has devoured them one after another - there are about 28 books in each series but they aren’t long and are very readable for your daughters age!

Have a look at the 13 Storey Treehouse series, my 6 year old loves them and is always telling me about things Terry and Andy get up to!
I wouldn't rule out Matilda, mine is also a bit sensitive to content he doesn't like, won't read The Witches because he didn't like the sound of the Grand High Witch so put it down and never picked it up again, but Matilda is his favourite Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory comes a close second).
Also the David Walliams ones are good but I think most of them are a bit longer so perhaps wait a bit if you're only managing a chapter a day at the moment.

DD is now 7 and read all of Harry potter and we've found the same. Very very hard to come up with anything close. Recently had food engagement with nevermore but not anywhere near the excitement she had reading HP. it was an addiction for her. Problem is as you go into the potentially more interesting books the subject matter gets inappropriate (more gruesome descriptions, sexual content, swearing etc)

She was desperate to read the school of good or evil but I read a few pages with her and it was all girls talking about their 'ugly thick thighs' so I banned it and put it straight back to the library!

@Beanbagtrap Another set of books DD enjoyed after HP was David Baddiels stand alone ones like Parent agency, the Controller etc, I'm not a fan of David Walliams so we missed those, oh and the Percy Jackson books, she did enjoy those.

It's so hard to compete with technology now, I used to devour books, 15 from the library every Saturday but then we had no phones, only dial up Internet and I only did a couple of extra curricular.

I would say chose a few from the library yourself but do try a selection and include a non fiction or two.
Also try audiobooks too.
We had reading times in our household with everyone in the house reading during that half hour. It is so good for children to see parents enjoying reading.