Ten Tips to Encourage Reluctant Readers

By Charity Tahmaseb

As a writer and an avid reader, I knew there was one problem I wouldn’t have to face as a parent. Reluctant reader? Not in this house. Not with shelves crammed with books, not with two parents who read all the time. Sure, there’d be worries, but this wouldn’t be one of them.

My son Andrew loves stories and has since a very early age. His imaginative play involved characters, plots, and dialogue. He’d lug a stack of books to me for bedtime reading.

But he wouldn’t read himself.

And I was stymied. At the end of second grade, he was reading well below grade average. Reading was hard for him. He struggled and grew frustrated when he didn’t understand a word. As I worked with Andrew, I talked to teachers, other parents, and experimented on my own to find the key that would switch my reluctant reader into an eager one.

1. Rule Out the Physical

First things first. Make sure the reluctance is actual reluctance and not part of a physiological problem. Talk to your child’s teacher and pediatrician to rule out dyslexia or a physical problem that might make reading difficult for your child.

2. Make Reading Unavoidable

Darcy Vance, a volunteer coordinator, worked to make reading unavoidable with her kids. “I bought books through school, at bookstores, at garage sales, and we made weekly trips to the library,” she says.

She left books lying around—everywhere. “There were books on the kitchen table, in the living room (next to the remote control), on the computer desk, next to their beds, in the bathrooms. I even dropped books (open) on the floor. You could not move five feet in our house without encountering a book. You still can’t.”

3. Think Outside the Bookshelf

Sunday comics. Magazine subscriptions. Safe sites on the Internet. Darcy even went as far as taping articles of interest to bathroom mirrors.

Make trips to the library an event. We stop at a nearby coffee shop on the way there. Let your kids roam the stacks and pull out books that interest them. Try the library story time if they have one. Some libraries have computers with games that encourage (and require) reading. Let your child play—and read—at the same time.

4. Take the Pressure Off

Some reluctant readers feel that to read, they must know every single word on the page. Allow younger readers to simply look at the pictures or make up their own stories to go along with the illustrations. Let them be as silly as they want.

We’d love our children to read well and be well-read. Some books are better for kids than others, but if they’re not reading them, it doesn’t matter. Silly books, comic books, and media tie-ins may seem “low-brow” to some parents and teachers, but it may be just the thing to lure your reluctant reader into the world of books. Keep an open mind about the types of stories your child is drawn to.

5. Read Together

Continue to read aloud to your children. Reluctance may be born from the fear that once they read on their own, they’ll lose this special time with you. Maintain the habit. You can move on to more challenging books or slip in your favorite childhood classics.

6. Allow Comfort Reading

Do you have a keeper shelf? Books you love to reread now and then? Let your child turn to a favorite book to reread when she/he wants to (within reason, of course). According to kindergarten teacher Abigail Norton, rereading a book provides reluctant readers with a feeling of both comfort and success.

7. Find the Motivation

Not every motivational program will work for every child. Some are even turned off by programs that require them to read a certain amount of pages to win a prize or achieve a grade.

Last summer, I devised a “penny per page” reading program for my son. At first I worried that paying him to read would send the wrong message, but Andrew loved recording books in the Excel spreadsheet we set up. We established certain rules. A book could only be counted once (but he was free to reread if he wanted to). Comic books were fine as a break, but I would only pay for chapter books. After a while, he went from one chapter book to the next without stopping. By the end of the summer, he had earned more than twenty dollars (and read more than 2,000 pages).

8. Find the Topic(s)

What do your kids love? What are their favorite activities? What fascinates them? Chances are there are books about those very things. For a while, my son couldn’t get enough of books about natural disasters. Now it’s football.

For the older reluctant reader, finding an appropriate reading level combined with sophisticated enough topics can be a challenge. Easier books are geared toward younger readers. And yet, my son still balks if the page is too crowded. The sheer number of words intimidates him.

On the other hand, when I first suggested he read to his little sister, he thought I was trying to trick him into reading baby books. Now he loves to read to her and gets to revisit some of his old favorites.

9. Lead by Example

If reading is fun and important to you, your kids will pick up on this. Make time to read for your own pleasure while the kids are still awake. I introduced Andrew to other aspects of book publishing, such as first editions and print runs. Now he’ll eagerly flip to the copyright page to see if we were lucky enough to snag a first edition.

10. Don’t Give Up

Each child is different. What works for one might not for another. And the magic topic that inspires reading may surprise you. If you’re lucky, you may even witness the transformation from non-reader to reader.

As for Andrew, I remember precisely when the switch flipped and he became a reader. For Christmas, I’d given him some of Louis Sachar’s Marvin Redpost books, including Is He a Girl? which features the question: can a boy kiss his own elbow and turn into a girl? For a third-grade boy, this is a burning issue. After the day’s festivities, Andrew slunk off to his room, buried his nose in that book, and barely looked up when I knocked on the door. He devoured the book in two days and went on to read the others.

And he hasn’t stopped since.

Charity Tahmaseb writes mainstream and young adult fiction and continues to avidly read to her children each night before bed.

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Our Favorite Ice Cream Flavors

by the Noodlers

My favorite ice cream flavor is probably butter pecan, although anything with chocolate and cherries is a very close favorite. I also have very fond memories of the ice cream in Grenada (where Joe and I went for our honeymoon). The rum-raisin was astounding. – Kiki Clark

I narrowed it down to three, make that four: Starbuck’s coffee fudge almond, Godiva’s white chocolate raspberry, and Edy’s double fudge brownie and chocolate mint chip. – Maureen Hardegree

My favorite ice cream flavor is--what else?--chocolate! Unless it's homemade ice cream, and then I prefer plain old vanilla, or strawberry.  Mostly I like to mix flavors, like having a dip of banana nut, butter pecan, or orange sherbet perched on top of a dip of Dutch chocolate.  Mmmm. Might be time for a trip to Braum’s! – Pam Payne

My favorite ice cream flavors are Mint Chocolate Chip, Cinnamon, Moose Tracks and Maple Walnut.  Ice cream, yum. – Anne Mallory

My fave is chocolate chip cookie dough. – Jill Monroe

Ice cream, wow, what kind of ice cream don’t I like?  Kidding.  I’m not up for anything banana- or coffee-flavored.  My favorites?  Cheesecake from Coldstone Creamery with chocolate shavings, pecans and strawberries.  Or Swiss Orange Sherbert by Edy’s—it’s orange sherbet with chocolate chips.  Yum!  Butter pecan reminds me of my abuela, so that’s always a sentimental, tasty favorite.  Mint chocolate chip with Oreo crumbs--ooh, I feel the fat settling on my thighs.  Lite Cherry Garcia by Ben and Jerry’s--love that one.  Traditional soft-serve swirl of chocolate and vanilla; you can add a few chocolate sprinkles if you’d like, and I usually like. – Priscilla Kissinger

My favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate! If I’m feeling daring and want to jazz it up, then chocolate mixed with marshmallow, fudge, M&Ms, peanut butter, etc., is nice. And occasionally vanilla ice cream smothered in chocolate sauce will do the trick! – Diane Perkins

If it’s soft serve, chocolate.  If it’s from an ice cream store where they dip it out of buckets and put it in a cone, black cherry.  If it’s from a carton bought at the grocery, Neopolitan. That way I get three in one. – Merrillee Whren

Ice cream?  All of the above.  Well, if it has chocolate in it.  Or on it.  I’d rather have a hot fudge sundae, preferably soft serve, than any of the others, but if not that, then if there’s chocolate involved, it’s my favorite.  There’s a peaches and cream that’s scrumptious, too, but I only eat that if the guys didn’t bring home chocolate.  I don’t buy ice cream.  I wouldn’t dare! – Delle Jacobs

I can’t eat ice cream because it makes me sick!  (Think of the “lactose intolerance” scene in the movie French Kiss.)  An excellent nondairy alternative without a lot of junk in it is Soy Delicious ice cream--my fave is the chocolate/peanut butter.  Give it a try, and you’ll be surprised!  And no, I don’t own stock in the company. – Bridget Stuart

Haagen Daz chocolate is my favorite, and I love Dairy Queen’s Chocolate Extreme Blizzards. – Trish Milburn

My favorite ice cream flavors have been my picks from childhood.  My dad used to take me into Thrifty’s for ice cream, and I’d always pick a scoop of rocky road and one of mint chip.  I still make the same choices, although I haven’t eaten Thrify’s ice cream in years. – Debra Holland

My favorite ice creams are both by Starbuck’s: Coffee Almond Fudge and Javachip.  After a hard day’s work, give me a spoon, a pint, and call it dinner.  Note: Do not do this the night before having your annual physical and blood tests.  – Karen Potter, the voice of experience

Sorry, but I’m a vanilla girl.  Love really good, homemade vanilla made in an old-fashioned ice cream maker, but then I do like to add chocolate syrup and pecans. – Dianna Love Snell

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