Question for teachers but parents feel free to give your opinion!

[Latetothematch]

My ds is 9 (year 4), he is a very reluctant reader - partially due to being dyslexic, partially due to poor eyesight, partially due to there being a hundred and one other things he'd prefer to be doing than sitting down with a book.

He reads chapter books along the lines of: Mr Stink by David Walliams, Secret Seven etc.

This term his school have introduced reading diaries, and if they read 5 times a week they get a credit. The school advise reading between 15 and 30 minutes a night. This has been fantastic for my ds, for a child that wouldn't read at all, he now reads 15 mins (always the minimum for my ds!!!) 5 times a week to ensure he gets his credit.

He will never finish a book. Once a week the class go to the school library and are allowed to choose two books, every week he chooses two new books (he knows full well that he is allowed to keep the same one until he has finished but he doesn't want to), and will read approx the first 3 or 4 chapters of each book then return it.

Do teachers/others think this is a problem at the present age, or is it just good that he's reading something/anything even if never finishing a story? Or should I persuade bribe him to finish a book? I was thinking of saying if he reads a book the whole way through that he can £5 (he works for cash!!!).

Asterix is a great idea, DD2 and DH read Asterix together, also Garfield and Calvin and Hobbs taking parts and throwing in lots of dramatic expression.

DD2 could read difficult stuff, but she doesn't want to she wants to chill after a long day at school.

At 12 she now reads Twilight, hunger games and stuff and is beginning to appreciate her/DD1's set books. Both have been reading about a boy.

I think it takes time to find something that interests them.

I didn't read much until 12 and then I devoured AC, Sherlock and my mum's thrillers and yes I started with the Agatha C and Holmes short stories.

Laughing that's a great post - thank you.

During the summer he found an old copy of the beano annual (think 1980s one) and he really enjoyed it and read it the whole way through - woohoo! But I showed him a new copy of the beano annual and he thought it was awful, so maybe I need to go on ebay and find old annuals for him.

He did not like Beast Quest at all, only read a couple of pages before giving up, and I think the football series was the one he tried (max or something like that similar thickness to Beast Quest) kept on going back to them and trying to perseve with them but never finished.

He won't read comics - even when I've tried to buy him comics, he has actually responded mum that's a waste of money there are better things you could spend your cash on.

He does play computer games (although they tend to be football games so limited text), but has started msging his older sister which is great as chatting via text and neither use text speak so practicing writing and reading without realising.

Speaking as a (relatively unexperienced, though) teacher that once had a class of eight year olds, I wouldn't necessarily be worried that he wasn't finishing books. As someone up thread has said, it does take time for some people to start enjoying free reading. As long as his actual reading isn't suffering, I don't see any harm in letting him experiment with what books he likes and wants to read. I'm sure, given time, something will click and he will find The Book that changes it all for him.

Saying that though, I have been known to refuse to let children change their reading books until they have given it a proper go. But four chapters in seems reasonable to me...

Don't bother with the Beano, as much as I loved it as a kid it is awful now. Try older ones, or DH suggests a comic called Pheonix.

Have you tried the Tom Gates books? They are great for that age group but have lots of illustrations and do don't look daunting as they don't have masses of words on a page. My DS is a reluctant reader but he will read a Tom Gates book in an evening. He's pestering me for the new one at the moment, I've got it hidden away for Xmas/a rainy day, I think it will be coming out soon.

just a question...Is he reading the end of the book? My son does this (although year 2) I found it was removing his pleasure from the book ( no surprise there) so made him stop and now he enjoys it again.

Have you asked him why he doesn't want to finish them?

Also Fact books can be very good for boys

To be honest, I would try not to worry about it too much. I was very much like this as a child. I was a very able reader, but just did not have the reading'bug'. I would love the feel and look of books, and loved going to the library but would only read the first few chapters before getting bored. It was nothing to do with the type of book either- I just did not have the passion that some had for a good story, and would rather do other things than invest my time in reading.

I went on to go to grammar school, get a degree etc. I'm in a Book Group now but I will not go near a 'Wolf Hall' or 'War and Peace' as I just don't want to read something that long!

Perhaps some shorter stories are the way forward. He will in time start to finish longer books but perhaps reading books per se, is not his thing- and as long as he keeps his skills up, this is ok!

My son wasnt interested in reading unless I got him to read to me as part of school work. I bought things I enjoyed such as Enid Blyton but that didnt really get him interested. What turned him into a reader was Adam Blade's Beast Quest books. I have seen online that many parents of boys credit them with getting their sons reading. They have cards in the back, you could tell him that he can take them out when the book is finished. I needed no bribe, my son wouldn't put them down.. You can sometimes bet packs of 6 on offer from book places like scholastic/ the book people which makes them cheaper if he does get into them. Lots of boys at our school were reading and comparing cards. If this isn't the case at your school, try and get 1 of his good friends into them if you are friends with the mum as this will make him keener. We bought at least 20 books he devoured them and now reads a wide range of things. He isn't the reader I was and I have to set time to say ok read for a bit, but when he starts he enjoys books.

Re library books - maybe encourage him to get nonfiction so not issue regarding finishing them

Fiction books - can you share the reading with him? He reads a chapter and you match him with another chapter. Or even a page each in turn. Gets through the book faster but teaches him the benefits of finishing a story.