Getting an 8 year old boy into reading

[juniper904]

I'm trying to motivate an 8 year old boy to read, as his reading has not really progressed since autumn.

Can anyone recommend any good books? He is not a low achiever (achieved national expectation in Y2 SATS) but he doesn't seem to have found anything that grips him.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

DS(8) is not a great reader, but has recently become obsessed with Jack Stalwart. And also loves the five finder outer series by Enid Blyton.

If he likes football the dan freedman books (golden goal etc) are great.....

Beast Quest (sigh)
Wimpy Kid

Charlie Small books (though I still end up reading them to him. Hmmm . . .)

Sometimes my DCs will re-read books I've read to them.

My eight year old also loves the Beast Quest books. Also Tom Gates. And Captain Underpants. Also something called Astrosaurs.

He also likes the Usborne beginners books, which are factual books about all sorts of things. Sometimes boys prefer non-fiction.

What about Roald Dahl?

Captain underpants books are good for getting them near books and then you can start slipping in other books.

Ds is a fairly reluctant reader. He enjoys Mr Gum and Captain Underpants. He is reading the Mr Gum books at the moment and it is the first time I can recall where he will sit and read a book through choice.

My sn was a reluctant reader. Didn't realise he was a super brained dyslexic and nor did his school when he was eight. Suggest you take him with you to the library or book shop and he can look for himself, but also suggest there's no underlying reason why his reading has slowed down.

juniper..have you tried comics at bed time !!..beano/dandy..A childs writer (cant rememder his name now but is well knnown) said it doesn't matter what they read to start as long as they get into the reading habit..books might seem overwhelming but comics dont..?

I second the comic route.
ds is a sports fanatic so anything football/rugby/cricket related eventually (last 18 months) moving onto biographies of sports people. He is now into music and art too and reads actual books about these subject.
Just keep it about him and it'll come
(btw ds is top of his class in English now at 15 :))

We all love Mr Gum in this house!

My ds has also just started reading the Asterix books, which I have bought in large format comic-book style.

Agree with Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Horrible Histories are also good.

You could try him with Skulduggery Pleasant but he might be a bit young.

We were also encouraged by the school to go with the flow about what he was interested in reading - so we encouraged him to "take" the sports section of the paper at the weekend so he could read up on "his" rugby/football team.

R.D THE TWITS best story ever...

Jack Stalwart
Max Flash
Beast Quest
Cows in Action
Astrosaurs
Tj Hatrickplus others by Theo Walcoo the footballer [yeah right lol]

The David Walliams books are popular with that age too. Def agree about beast quest tho, my son loves them.

It was book day the other week, and there were loads of kids dressed up as Billionaire Boy! I thought ds would be the only one.

Yup Beast Quest....

Astrosaurs?

www.amazon.co.uk/Astrosaurs-Hatching-Mind-swap-Terror-bird-Dino-droids/dp/B002UJK8M4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332315474&sr=8-1

Before he got into "meatier" things DS liiked reading annuals (Star Wars, Dr Who, whatever interests him), the Lego club magazine (sign up free on website), choose your own adventure type stories, Usborne puzzle books, and bits and pieces of out non-fiction books (so shorter bits of writing). he also liked some of the stuff on Oxford Owl (although it is reading scheme books he liked the novetly of reading on line.

I found the key with him was to give him stuff at first that was "easy" for him to read - he was pushed hard at school, so reading always seemed a chore- we started with making it enjoyable before encouraging him to read "harder" stuff.

Same here but now my son loves horrid Henry ( has also improved his behaviour- Noones as bad as Henry!) and beast quest. I also take them to the library at least once a month and they often have great holiday activities.

Willard Price's adventure books area bit dated but have been known to get boys reading.
you could also try Arthur and the Minimoids by Luke Besson and How to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell.

More votes for Beast Quest, David Walliams and Mr Gum. Also Famous Five and Secret Seven.

My ds also reads football programmes, match of the day etc comics, the sports section of the weekend newspapers, anything football related really.

Beast Quest....year 3 are addicted to them. All they want for birthday presents are WH Smith vouchers to buy more. Adam Blade must be raking it in.

Not sure I can introduce comics before bed. Don't think his mother would approve... I'm his teacher!

I'm just trying to make a list for her. I'm concerned that he's pretending to read. He shows great interest in books, but then doesn't actually read the things!