Roald Dahl too long.... Help!

[grey12]

Hi!
I need your advice :)

My daughter loves books but isn't too keen on reading them herself.....

I've bought her a couple of Roald Dahl books but she's finding them too long. After one chapter she's expecting the story to be somewhere more exciting and it isn't 🤷🏻‍♀️ So she's giving up..... I could read it for her but she needs the practice! Really needs it (UK system not really allowing children to defer a year doesn't work at all!! Broken!!)

I wasn't born in the UK, english isn't my first language so I'm not as familiar with books here.

I am looking for a inbetween book. Chapter book but small. Interesting, exciting. Anything comes to mind?

Thank you!

Have you let her read shorter books but that come with more complex language? So she's learning but not put off by the length. You need you need to keep it fun. Used to work for a literacy charity and they advocate harder picture books up to the end of primary school.
Hairy McClary Rumpus at the Vets - look at the words so many will be new to her as a reader
Hubert Horatio Barton Bobton Trent
Geronimo Stilton
The incredible book eating boy

That is really good advice, especially if you are reading to her before bed and she's tired.

DD found reading a little challenging at first. We went to the library and let her choose some books. Most libraries will have a few "early reader" type books.

Echo posters asking which Roald Dahl’s. Some are much easier than others - Fantastic Mr Fox is a fantastic early reader. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory not so much.

Faraway Trees are good for being episodic.

@grey12 how is your DD now?

I recommend Horrid Henry and Winnie the Witch - they were the two series that my struggling reader loved. Winnie the Witch has picture books and chapter books, so you could start with picture books and move to the chapter books if she likes them.

Faraway Tree is another good one, but perhaps better if you read that to her. My daughter loved it (and it’s great for discreet chapters), but found it harder to engage with when she tried reading herself.

There’s an early reader version of Roald Dahl books that might be worth trying. They are quite dated though so I’m not sure kids are as in to them as we were.

Graphic novels are good for early readers. Narwhal and Jelly, Bumble and Snug or slightly more factual A Day In The life of a Poo, a Gnu and You.

My daughter hates roald dahl. Shes just not interested in them.

For a first chapter book she loved the princess in black series followed by worst witch.

The Big, Big, Big Book of Tashi by Anna and Barbara Fienberg is a good book for giving children the illusion of having read a lot, when actually the text is quite short with big pictures. My son didn't find it babyish and it gave him a sense of achievement to get through such a seemingly long book.

Also Mr Men books are good for building confidence.