Encouraging a reluctant 10-year-old reader

[CautiousOptimist]

My middle son can read fine, but is put off by big novels or small writing.

He gravitates towards the 7-10 section I would say - David Walliams, Choose Your Own Mystery, the Treehouse Series etc.

He also likes listening to audiobooks - Harry Potter, Enid Blyton, mysteries - but is put off / bored by anything more serious.

I’m no book snob (I always told them I didn’t care what they read as long as they read something), but aware that he’s now a year or two behind in reading age.

What should I do, if anything? Read more serious books to him? Encourage him to read them himself even if only 5 pages a day? Or just leave him alone so as not to put him off? Thanks for your thoughts.

My initial thought is not to push too hard because if you turn it into a chore you might do more harm than good, but I can see why you’re concerned. Is he performing well in English/are his teachers concerned? I flagged with my reading around this age (despite always being in the top of my class) until I found new books in my secondary school library by authors I was more interested in. Are there any books of films he particularly likes? To be honest, if I look in my local library the books for that age range aren’t particularly interesting to me either. At that age I liked The Dark Is Rising, which has a male protagonist but it’s not marketed in anything like the same way as David Walliams, so he might not be interested.

I don’t think books for older readers have to be “more serious” necessarily - can you look at authors who write funny books for older audiences? Or non-fiction books in areas he’s interested in? Hopefully someone will be along with specific recommendations from their kids that are into similar things!

Do you read? If he sees it as something only kids are made to do, that also might make him less interested in “progressing”.

Thanks for the reply. Yes you’re right, I don’t want it to be a chore. I do read yes, both to myself (a wide range) and chapter books out loud to him and his brothers.
He’s been doing very well at school for the last few years - above expected in both Maths and English. He does find spelling tricky though. His vocab is good, probably because of the audiobooks and me reading to him, and he writes good stories.
He loves old-fashioned sort of stories, mysteries and funny stuff - wondering about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

I think if you have a 10
year old boy who’s reading for pleasure you’re winning. My son has a reading age of 16 at 11 (year 6 assessment) and for choice still dabbles in diary of a wimpy kid! Reading should be a joy, an escape a safe place, that’s the aim I think. My son’s dyslexic and it’s taken him YEARS to learn to read and he left primary with the highest reading age in the school. I haven’t pushed him at all I’ve 100% let him read what ever he wants, the beano.. anything! Are school concerned? X

@LifealittleboulderThank you, I’m sure you’re right and it sounds like your approach worked well for you.
I don’t think school are concerned, no. But in a class of 32, I don’t think they probably know that he’s listening to Malory Towers before bed instead of reading the recommended read that he carries back and forth to school and hasn’t started :-)

In that case, I think just let him carry on then! Spelling is a bit of a work in progress really. Even adults that are good at spelling have to look up the odd word now and again. If he’s enjoying reading then I agree, you’re winning! And in time he’ll likely branch out into other authors and genres. At that age, I just didn’t have the willpower to read anything I wasn’t really interested in.

I have a 10yr old reluctant reader as well. I've found books that contain short stories are good. That way theres only a handful of pages and it feels achieveable to reach the end of each individual story. He's especially liked one's that are factual and about subjects he's interested in. These have both gone down really well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-World-War-II-Amazing/dp/1838992855

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Survivors-David-Long/dp/0571339662

@WhyCantISayForkThank you, wise words. He does love stories, which I suppose is the whole point. Perhaps his tastes will broaden at secondary school.

@FuckitydoodahThese look excellent and short stories a good idea to try, thank you.

See ' Big Nate' books, they're fantastic.

I find it difficult not to be twitchy about reading. My 8yo has a reading age of 12 but mainly reads fact books e.g. Horrible histories, rather than a fiction book that involves a main character, storyline and character empathy. I know full well from my older DD who is dyslexic that fact books and audio books are really brilliant, just as good as 'novels' for vocab, etc. Yet I'm still twitchy about ds not reading something 'proper'!

I would encourage him to keep going with the sort of books you say he's gravitating towards. Do you know the Loki books by Louie Stowell? They're diary style with words and pictures and very funny, so a sort of instant gratification on every page and easy to get through.