The rock meets the hard place: "I hate books!"

Comic books? Graphic novels? Info books on things he digs like extreme animals or star wars?

If you can give a brief list of the types of subjects that hold his interest, I can look around for some books at his reading level that might help.

Is there a possibility that the style of your reading voice is where the entertainment is for him? If you were to read those same stories in a mostly monotone voice would he still find them just as exciting?

Poor Boomer...that sucketh mightily. Gives Boomer a hug.


Empathise a lot.

Point out that the faster Mo learns to read, the faster he can enjoy the books he loves whenever he wants.

Explain that, as his loving mum, it's your job to ensure he learns to read really well, because you know that is going to be a fabulous part of his life.

Explain how much you want to read to him.

But...make the length of time you read to him contingent on him making a damn good try re HIS reading....so, if he works at his reading, he gets a long read from you (mebbe interspersing HIS reading, and as a reward along the way?)...if he won't try his own reading, he gets a shorter read from you.


Do you run your finger under the words as you go when you read to him at all?

Some kids seem to find that helps with picking words up fast.

But..I'd defer to the teachery folk on that.

I'd not immediately try to up the amount of time MO is reading to you...I'd sneak it up slowly.

Dunno if any of that is worth anything...

Oh...just a thought...

One of my friends who has taught forEVER says that, for boys, getting dad involved in reading is often very effective. She said she was curious re whether anyone else's experience matched hers, and looked at research. She said she found stuff supporting her impression.

Could Mr B take some of the Mo reading to adult load?

let him read stuff he likes.

go for medival warfare or something.

go for possibly scientific inventions, ben franklin, einstein how he failed in math in 5th grade, i think, etc. go for the outlaws, the rebels.

i try.

bring up archimedes i think it was? who got killed drawing circles in the sand.

by idiots, emphasize idiots.

i wish i knew what to say to help, my experiences are the exact opposite, tai chi and i were early and voracious readers, as were tai's kids

waiting and watching, hoping things work out

Good advice so far. I like dlowan's idea of emphasizing that once he can read better he can read whatever he wants, instead of being limited to the stuff he finds boring.

Keep it all in terms of how great it is to be able to read the really interesting stuff while acknowledging that some of what he's reading isn't interesting right now. Maybe use music terms -- you have to learn the basics before going on to fancier stuff. Or karate, or whatever he's interested in where there is boring-ish basic stuff that opens the door to super-cool harder stuff.

What is his reading level now? I'm happy to look around too but not sure what it is.

What about, like, Captain Underpants? (Lots of graphics and very adventure-y.)

How about implementing tit-for-tat? He has to read you a book (or chapter, or whatever) before you'll read him one.

A token economy can help, too. He gets a poker chip for each book he reads to you, and when he gets x chips he gets a special treat. (x starts low, and slowly increases.)

Hmm... A smart kid might take the wrong lesson from that. (Or would it be the right lesson, after all?)

I agree - try encouraging him that the better he learns to read, the interesting the books.

Not sure his reading level, but the Commander Toad series is action backed and funny.

Great idea. Another thought - maybe he has a hard time retaining what he is reading? Have him read to you and when he finishes a page go over what he read by asking him questions about it. I have to do this with my older daughter as she has a reading comprehension problem. It seems to increase her interest when I start asking her questions about what she read - like what do you think is going to happen next? Why did that kid kick his dog? Stuff like that.

okay linkat made me think of a book that might work
Poo-poo and the Dragons (1942) C S Forester


It was published in 1942, before the war impacted book production. Forester came up with the premise for the book while he was at home in the Berkeley hills, minding his two boys while his wife Kathleen was away. The younger of the two, 8 year old George, went on a hunger strike; he refused to eat. Forester made up the stories to tell during dinnertime, but would only tell them if George would eat. If George stopped eating, Forester stopped talking mid-sentence. By the time Kathleeen returned home and everything returned to normal, there were a number of Poo-Poo stories, and 3 dragons. Forester collected the stories in manuscript form and Little Brown published it.

don't how easy it is to find, but the book is well written, entertaining, and even contains it's own sort of questionnaire, throughout the book it asks questions, like if the boy goes to the store later in the book the story will ask, do you remember the shopkeepers name

What a wonderful cover!

Yeah, but it's out of print.

$80?

wish my copy was in better shape, i've seen prices as high as $250

oh well, maybe a library

ISBN: 0316289167
ISBN 13: 9780316289160
That info may help in locating it.

I sort of have my keyboard working now so I might be able to elaborate a bit more.

But first --thank you all for your responses.

Mo is reading at an early 2nd grade level, meaning most of the kids are about a half year ahead of him. He is in two reading groups at school and has his IEP reading group. Despite all of this help and extra help, I don't really see him making any progress. I think the "boringness" of the books are part of the problem.

His comprehension is great! Really good. We read some fairly complicated stuff together. His two favorites so far being "The Phantom Tollbooth" and "A Wrinkle In Time" but mostly he rejects fiction. I think he liked the word-play in "Tollbooth" and the time travel concept of "Wrinkle". Mo can explain both a Half Boy and how to travel by wrinkle.

The only think I've found in common with the books is that the kids hate school. We were getting ready to start the "Wimpy Kid" series when I got the note....

What he likes to read:

Science books, especially about ocean life.
We have every book in the step-into-reading series dealing with ocean life (sharks, whales, dolphins, platypus, squid, octopus, etc.) He also has several other children's books on these subjects that he can mostly read in additon to a few adult level field guide type books that he can reference, if not entirely read.


What he hates to read:

Any and all fiction written for children his age. I thought he would like "The Magic Treehouse" WRONG. I thought he would like "Captain Underpants" WRONG.
He also hates "The Hardy Boys" and stuff like that.
He doesn't like this stuff even when I read it to him; he doesn't really like fiction.


What I think he would like:

Soldier stories or biographies.
I've tried a few and they didn't click -- all that I could really find were these really sanitized accounts of Revolutionary War or Civil War people.
I think he would love "The Red Badge Of Courage" but that's something I would have to read to him.

Powell's has a copy of "Poo Poo and The Dragons" listed for $250.00!

Yikes!