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[the_rck]

I'm looking for book recommendations for Delia. I'm making up her Christmas wishlist now, and I'd like to put a few books on it.

She loves the Harry Potter books and will read them voluntarily. So far, they're the only books that have gotten her that excited. Other books, she'll read a chapter of and give up. She's rejected the Oz books and the Chronicles of Narnia. She liked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when we read it to her (she even read ahead) but didn't like Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. She likes Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume (the younger books) when we read the books to her but won't read them herself unless assigned them for school.

She doesn't deal well with books that have parents dying or appearing to die on screen. We couldn't read her The Secret Garden because of that (we haven't tried skipping the first chapter).

Delia seems to like the idea of reading better than actually reading. She checks out a lot of books from the library that she simply doesn't touch. She reads well but not fast.

Anyway, books like the Harry Potter books seem to be the way to go. What's out there to coax a reluctant reader?

Comments

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

When one of my kids was a reluctant reader, it didn't matter what books I brought him. If a book came from Mom, it was by definition boring.

Things that help:
1) Books that come from friends who love them. Especially if the friend talks enthusiastically to him about what he or she likes about that book.
2) Graphic novels and other books that look visually enticing.
3) Reading books out loud to him at our family's nightly read-aloud time.

[the_rck]

I'm assuming that any books we try for Delia will end up being bedtime reading. That is, we read aloud to her before she falls asleep. If she gets into bed early enough, there's even time after that for her to read to herself. The ideal book will be something that catches her imagination enough that she wants to read it herself. So far, Harry Potter and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are the only books to do that.

I kind of doubt Delia will pick up any book unprompted. I'm really disappointed that she doesn't have reading homework this year. Last year, the kids were required to read for twenty minutes a day, four days a week. This year, nothing. The teacher said they were going to start doing it once the kids had settled into a routine, but she hasn't ever done anything further.