How to encourage an able but reluctant reader?

[Wavingkitten]

DD6 has just started year 2. She is an able reader - on lime books, full marks in the phonics screening.

However actually getting her to read anything is a battle, which I don't want it to be. It's hard enough getting her to read her school books let alone anything else for pleasure. We limped through the summer reading challenge at the library. She has plenty of books at home of varying lengths, age groups etc but nothing takes her interest. She never picks up a book of her own accord.

I'm keenly aware that for her to stay doing well in reading, develop her comprehension skills etc that she needs to be reading regularly. Some of her friends are little bookworms and I know I shouldn't compare but...!

Any tips for how to encourage such a child? It's not that she finds it hard, she doesn't. When she does actually read it's with expression and fluency. I don't mind her reading to herself but she doesn't want to do that. She hasn't got any siblings to read to so we've tried her reading to her toys but she just really isn't interested.

What can I do?!

Information books on topics she is interested in.

Lots of great suggestions.

One specific thing I thought of, related to what you wrote in your most recent reply: if she’s keen on the idea of the Magic Faraway Tree books and you’ve bought them but she’s not read them, how about you starting to read one to her, a bit per day. If she gets hooked on the story, you could stop at a cliffhanger and say it’s her bedtime or you need to go and do something, and either say she can take the book up to bed with her, or just leave it lying around. Maybe she’ll be impatient to find out what happens next… DD did this with Harry Potter, which really annoyed DH as she got ahead and he’d not read it before and was missing bits of the story!

Also make sure to "ban" reading after a certain time and then turn a blind eye to reading in bed. "Make sure you don't read more than 5 minutes, it is bedtime, turn off the light at 8:30"

Would she chose something herself maybe if you take her to the library or a bookshop? My DS was a very early and capable reader but is not by any means a bookworm. The trouble with reading scheme books is that they tend to be as dull as ditch water so can be really uninspiring so very off-putting for many children.
My DS much prefers non-fiction so his favourite reading material is things like the Whizz Pop Bang science magazine and he loves those books with the lift up flaps too (Think they are DK books?) on science, space, history etc... What's particularly good about them is that you can move between pages without needing to read everything in an orderly fashion and the text is generally in small blocks of information so not quite so intimidating as having a full page of text. These sort of books actually have a vast array of vocab in them too that they wouldn't necessarily come across in non-fiction books for that age group as well as having the added benefit of providing a really good boost to their general knowledge at the same time.

Harry Potter. If she can read by herself, it isn't actually too challenging, particularly the first book and it's what kickstarted my reading

Like your thinking paxillin

Harry Potter/Faraway Tree may be a little long and dense for lime level, though you never know what'll trigger their determination. Cartoony books went down well with my two. (Ottoline is another one that DC loved.)

I agree with suggestions about trying different types of reading material that may appeal more. We also have some success with reading books that were easier than dds level so they weren't a strain to read.

We made up a type of reading where one of us would read a bit, then tap on the book, which woukd mean the other would take over. It meant we could get through longer or trickier books quickly so dd could enjoy the story, and took away some of the pressure.