What to Do with a Reluctant Reader, the Repeat
I'm too busy to create anything new, I thought I'd do another repost of something from the olden days. As long as we're on the subject of kids' books, I'm reposting a list of ways to get your reluctant reader to begin to enjoy reading.
A reluctant reader is a child who has reached 10 or 12 years old, who can read, but doesn't enjoy reading on their own, a child who almost never picks up a book to read for pleasure. You may think that children who grow up in households that value reading will never be reluctant readers, but there are kids who manage to defy the odds. Two out of four of mine would have fallen into the reluctant reader category. While they loved to be read to, and scored fairly high on reading comprehension tests, for some reason, they resisted reading on their own.
Here are a few tips gleaned from our experiences:
1. Take advantage of the times your child is held captive. Keep good books for children in the bathroom. Stack a few by their bed and make reading the only activity allowed after bedtime. Unless your child is prone to carsickness, take lots of books on a long car ride. Never, ever actually draw attention to these books, or suggest that they try reading one of them.
2. Notice what sorts of T.V. programs your child likes most. Do they like drama, or are they more drawn to documentaries and science shows? It's my personal opinion that many reluctant readers are "just the facts" sort of people, and parents may be pushing novels while the child prefers nonfiction. Try leaving biographies, nature books, science books, books of math puzzles, books on W.W.II, sports books, joke books, books about foreign countries, or collection-of-facts type books--like almanacs--scattered about the house. If you can't resist pushing novels, make them factually based novels.
3. Have quiet time at your home and insist that everyone--it works best if this means dad, too--is included. After the supper dishes are done is a good time. Only quiet activities are allowed--drawing, homework, paying bills, reading, etc. Half an hour is long enough, but you can try a longer time period if you think you can manage it. Chances are that at some point your reluctant reader will run out of other quiet entertaining things to do and will open a book. Try not to comment on it when this happens.
4. Keep on reading to your child. Never stop doing this. Ask your child to read out loud to you once in a while. Ask them to read a page or a paragraph from the book you are reading to them. Try reading a bit of a really engaging book to them--like a chapter or two, just enough to get them really interested--and then be too busy to read to them for a few days and see if they will try to finish on their own.
The all-time best novel for reluctant readers is Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins. It's easy to read, and I've never met a kid that didn't like it. Read a chapter or two to them and see if they don't finish it! Other Scott O'Dell books are good, too, but introduce these other books after they've been hooked by Island of the Blue Dolphins.
5. Tidiness may be a virtue, but being too tidy doesn't promote reading. A reluctant reader does not love reading enough to look through a bookcase for a book that has been put away. Lots of books everywhere is a good thing when it comes to getting kids to read.
6. Buy books at garage sales, thrift stores and used book stores. If you pay new price for a book, it's going to eat at you when it doesn't get read, and that pressure to have the book read is counterproductive when you are dealing with reluctant readers.
And if you buy at rock bottom prices, you'll be more likely to take a chance on something that isn't great literature, but may be just the thing to prick your young reader's interest. Don't worry that their reading material is too lightweight. Lightweight is good; dumbed down is not. Your purpose at this point is not to make them well-read, but simply to get them to see that books can be fun and interesting, and that reading doesn't have to be a chore.
If you have more ideas, feel free to add them.
[Update: There are several more good suggestions in the comments.]
A reluctant reader is a child who has reached 10 or 12 years old, who can read, but doesn't enjoy reading on their own, a child who almost never picks up a book to read for pleasure. You may think that children who grow up in households that value reading will never be reluctant readers, but there are kids who manage to defy the odds. Two out of four of mine would have fallen into the reluctant reader category. While they loved to be read to, and scored fairly high on reading comprehension tests, for some reason, they resisted reading on their own.
Here are a few tips gleaned from our experiences:
1. Take advantage of the times your child is held captive. Keep good books for children in the bathroom. Stack a few by their bed and make reading the only activity allowed after bedtime. Unless your child is prone to carsickness, take lots of books on a long car ride. Never, ever actually draw attention to these books, or suggest that they try reading one of them.
2. Notice what sorts of T.V. programs your child likes most. Do they like drama, or are they more drawn to documentaries and science shows? It's my personal opinion that many reluctant readers are "just the facts" sort of people, and parents may be pushing novels while the child prefers nonfiction. Try leaving biographies, nature books, science books, books of math puzzles, books on W.W.II, sports books, joke books, books about foreign countries, or collection-of-facts type books--like almanacs--scattered about the house. If you can't resist pushing novels, make them factually based novels.
3. Have quiet time at your home and insist that everyone--it works best if this means dad, too--is included. After the supper dishes are done is a good time. Only quiet activities are allowed--drawing, homework, paying bills, reading, etc. Half an hour is long enough, but you can try a longer time period if you think you can manage it. Chances are that at some point your reluctant reader will run out of other quiet entertaining things to do and will open a book. Try not to comment on it when this happens.
4. Keep on reading to your child. Never stop doing this. Ask your child to read out loud to you once in a while. Ask them to read a page or a paragraph from the book you are reading to them. Try reading a bit of a really engaging book to them--like a chapter or two, just enough to get them really interested--and then be too busy to read to them for a few days and see if they will try to finish on their own.
The all-time best novel for reluctant readers is Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins. It's easy to read, and I've never met a kid that didn't like it. Read a chapter or two to them and see if they don't finish it! Other Scott O'Dell books are good, too, but introduce these other books after they've been hooked by Island of the Blue Dolphins.
5. Tidiness may be a virtue, but being too tidy doesn't promote reading. A reluctant reader does not love reading enough to look through a bookcase for a book that has been put away. Lots of books everywhere is a good thing when it comes to getting kids to read.
6. Buy books at garage sales, thrift stores and used book stores. If you pay new price for a book, it's going to eat at you when it doesn't get read, and that pressure to have the book read is counterproductive when you are dealing with reluctant readers.
And if you buy at rock bottom prices, you'll be more likely to take a chance on something that isn't great literature, but may be just the thing to prick your young reader's interest. Don't worry that their reading material is too lightweight. Lightweight is good; dumbed down is not. Your purpose at this point is not to make them well-read, but simply to get them to see that books can be fun and interesting, and that reading doesn't have to be a chore.
If you have more ideas, feel free to add them.
[Update: There are several more good suggestions in the comments.]
posted by Rebecca Stark at 6/24/2005 11:56:00 AM
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