BOYS READING: How to move them on from 5-8s books to more demanding novels?

[roisin]

OK, as many of you know I'm passionate about children's literature, and children reading.

Both boys became very fluent readers at a very early age. DS1 was precocious and read very advanced literature at a very young age (not necessarily an approach I would advocate.)

DS2 has equally precocious reading age scores, but is very reluctant to read novels full stop (reads endless non-fiction).

I am aware that he has not yet become a lifelong reader and IME if he doesn't get there soon society/culture will take over and he will not become one.

Atm he will not read anything more demanding than the likes of:
Horrid Henry
Astrosaurs
The Grk books
Cressida Cowell
Beast Quest
Ghosthunters

Nothing wrong with any of this I know, but how do we bridge the gap to Horowitz, Charlie Higson, Michelle Paver, Georgia Byng, Jenny Nimmo, etc?

No not a teacher a children's writer. Spend quite a lot of time in schools especially with reluctant readers.

slowreader - are you a published author?

Out yourself, slowreader! How exciting.

you lot will be very amused at how difficult I am finding it to bring myself to put an EB book into my Amazon shopping basket.

And yes I must use libraries more too. I just love buying books - it's my major vice
Fortunately both boys think spending time in a bookshop is a treat, even if it's only a little one.

Wasn't there some research that suggested that using a public library regularly was the best predictor of something or other? Lifelong reading or success at school or somesuch?

Yes have kept wolf from door thus these last 12+ years in fact should be doing it now. (Wolf licking paint as we speak I mean type). Cannot out myself because don't want anyone looking me up on Amazon. Should add have virtually (by human standards) non reading son (rebellion) and have made all the mistakes. Let it go this last year and he is actually spending hard earned pocket money on fairly good books.

lol @ your Blytonphobia.

Thought getting you to out yourself might be a longshot. Can we guess?

Oh I am very intrigued now
Are you female?
Are you funny?
What age to you write for?

What part of the country are you in?
Do you want to come and speak to my reading groups? (secondary)

Uh-oh! Roisin will out you before you know it. Run for the hills, slowreader!

my ds1 is just 8, he has read the lemony snicket? series, also he really enjoyed the narnia series, he whizzed through those, he is now reading the harry potter stories.

he also likes roald dahl books and enid blyton, the secret seven, famous five etc, tho these are a bit 'simple' for him now but he started on those.

ummm i will ask him in the morning what else he likes to read, he always gets a tonne of books out of the library.

oh teh roddy doyle books are also good, ds1 LOVED the giggler treatment and he has all three of his books, they are quite a quick read.

THANK YOU EVERYBODY!
It's been a fun hour.
I must roll up to bed now though - I've just turned into a pumpkin

I have a DS who has just turned 7 who is a good reader and, according to his teacher, ready for the early Harry Potters. He loves reading/being read to but seems to be completely daunted by the small type, lack of pictures and the length of the book. It seems to be a confidence thing and also the ability to concentrate for long enough to make progress and get through the book. I am inclined not to push it as I don't want him to go the other way and not read at all. However, what I might do is start reading something more difficult at bedtime and see if he reads some for himself, when we have said goodnight and he wants to see what happens next. He does it a bit with some books (he likes Jeremy Strong at the moment) so it might work.

Another thing that works for us is linking the non-fiction with fiction. My son is into history, specifically knights, castles and battles so any fiction books that link to this are likely to be popular, like stories of King Arthur. I don't know what your son's non-fiction tastes are but perhaps you could try fiction linked to them.

I also think, for what its worth, that your son will move on when he has outgrown the books he is reading at the moment and that pushing him to move on might make him rebel and not read anything at all. Part of the reason that DS doesn't want to read HP, for example, is that although his reading age is ready for it I don't think he is emotionally ready for it and finds the books a bit scary. He won't watch the films either although that is probably good as I think films often spoil the reading of the book afterwards.

Personally, I am just happy that my son is reading and I agree with his school when they say that so long as they are reading that is the most important thing. The rest will follow. If you want to have family time reading together, which is a lovely idea and one I would like to copy when DS2 is old enough, does it matter if one of your sons isn't reading fiction so long as he is reading something?

If it helps, there is a good website called Lovereading4kids.co.uk which has lots of ideas by age. Hope it gives you more inspiration.

Let me start by asking...why do you want to steer your ds away from non-fiction? My ds is 6 (almost 7) and chooses mostly non-fiction to read. He will read the Atlas, books about space, books about human anatomy, books about the earth, volcanoes, pompeii, scientific experiments and (help!) joke books. He will let me read fiction to him in the evenings, but virtually never chooses to read it himself. I am so thrilled that he chooses to read rather than other things, that I don't try to steer him away from his choices (at least it's not comic books). (Reality is that a large percentage of adult males choose to read non-fiction over fiction.) I do severely limit (more than any other parent I know) tv time (a few hours a week) and classify videos, dvd's AND computer/video games in the same category as tv time. Having said all of that, when I read to ds, I am usually reading to dd (4) at the same time, so try to stick to fiction with a good plot (dd is sickeningly obsessed with princesses and pink....). Books that we have read that I have enjoyed have been the Goosebumps series and the Magic Treehouse series and we are currently reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler which is really fun. You could try some of the old classics like Treasure Island or Robinson Crusoe or Tom Sawyer. When I was that age I liked the Joan Aiken books and was obsessed with the Greek Myths (try D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths) and (she whispers) LOVED all the EB books which were hard to find in the usa. Also Encyclopedia Brown series and Nancy Drew. More recent book that I haven't read, but have been told is fabulous for boys is Holes by Louis Sachar.

Hee hee. I have put EB in my basket, but I still haven't actually bought it yet

SofiaAmes - there has been a number of different recent research studies focusing on boys underachievement, which have proved a link between success at school and reading fiction for pleasure. So that is one of my motivating factors, though not the only one. As a family dh and I both love reading, and we want both the boys to share this love.

I work in a secondary school, and am frequently saddened and shocked by the lack of reading of any kind among teenagers. I believe very firmly that they need to become lifelong readers whilst at primary school, otherwise it is not going to happen for most of them. And this means they need to take the step to read longer books with more complex plots and characters, and more challenging language, and be gripped by them.

Btw Holes is about teenage angst, and not appropriate for a young primary school-aged child. It's quite an easy read, but more suitable for older children. DS1 did read it when he was about 8, but I think he would appreciate it far more at 12 or so.

Thanks Niecie - I know I sound a bit of a stress-head on here about it, but really I'm not, and certainly not to put that across to ds2. He's not under any pressure to read, and I have been very laidback about it, but the fact remains that his choice of reading material has changed little over the past 3 years.

Your post reminded me that when ds1 was very small I decided he was too young for Harry Potter, and banned him from reading it ... so guess what he did?!

So I'm going to try a bit of psychology as suggested by slowreader lower down.

Thanks for the link btw. I enjoy looking at Lovereading4kids.co.uk, and frequently recommend this to members of my reading groups at school. I find their age-recommendations pretty good generally.

ScummyMummy - I would never out someone on here
FWIW I have identified another published author on here, but have not outed them on mn.

So come on slowreader - give us some clues or hints? What age to you write for? Who's your publisher? You can CAT me if you like

Morning!

Wow - lots more great suggestions on here since last night.

We're off to the library later today, so I'm going to print this thread and take it with me!

Like you, Roisin, I'm just glad my boys see books as a treat. They asked what we were doing today and I said XYZ (chores) and then 'a trip to the library' and they both went 'Yay!'

Have you tried Roddy Doyle's 'The Giggler Treatment'? A friend recommended it to me when my son was about 8 and he loved it. Very funny for both adults and children.

Thanks Mutie and others who've recommended Roddy Doyle. Yes, he has read "The Giggler treatment" and enjoyed it. But it's very short - just over 100 pages - and isn't really in the 'moving on' category I'm looking for.

Legacy - I hope the library's open for you. Lots of them are closed on Thursday afternoons!

Roisin - ooh good point, although I think ours is closed on Wednesdays, but I'll check...

roisin - I forgot to mention Mark Haddon's Agent Z books - sillier and more surreal than Grk - ds likes them enough to have re-read them several times now. They're pretty short & easy - I'd say more accessible than Grk (even). He finds them hilarious, too.

Anthony Horowitz has done some deliberately "entry-level" books - something like the "Diamond Geezers", title like that.