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

@boomerang,

Quote:

I think he would love "The Red Badge Of Courage" but that's something I would have to read to him.

Don't be so sure. Challenging books are a great way to get a kid more interested in reading.

Maybe a copy of 'the hobbit?' I read it when I was 6 and the whole LOTR series the next year.

Cycloptichorn

0 Replies

I wouldn't stop reading to him- the fact that he'll sit still and listen to you read is a great sign in terms of attention span- a lot of kids wouldn't even do that.

What I would do though is try to have two copies of whatever you're reading and have him hold his own copy and follow along as you read. Then you could work into you reading one paragraph, he reads the next - then you read a page and he reads the next.

Listening to and reading the words as someone else reads is an important pre-reading skill and ultimately helps build word recognition and eventual fluency.

Eventually, books on tape would serve the same purpose - and make him a little more autonomous and responsible for 'reading' - mom isn't reading to him - he's listening and reading all by himself.

But I think it's counterproductive to stop reading to him. If you don't, and he doesn't want to read himself yet - he may get out of the habit of wanting stories and replace that specific diversion with another that might be less connected to reading.
I think if he loves stories - you should continue to encourage that and eventually when he's ready- he'll be all the more motivated to read them himself.

0 Replies

The poker chip thing has potential....

I confess to having made bets with him on homework and he gets pretty motivated when I do.

Interesting about dads. Last night at dinner he asked if he could read a certain book to Mr. B. I went to take a shower and he did read to Mr. B, when I got out Mr. B was reading a different book to Mo as they had finished the first round. There was none of the complaining I usually have to listen to.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

Boom, I have not worked with young readers in a long time, but when I did, I tried to find a book that was just beyond their ability, that they really wanted to read, and then help with the tough words to keep the flow going.

I know that sounds vague, but I guess it is trying to keep a competitive balance in the material with enough zip to keep the frustration to a minimum.

I used "the hardy boys" but that is SO old school now...

0 Replies

I agree with Cyclo about raising the bar so that he will learn to read because of the interest coupled with the difficulty level. In addition to The Hobbit, i would add Kidnapped and Treasure Island, both of which books have a boy for a hero (and Kidnapped also functions as an historical novel), Toby Tyler, about a boy who runs away to join the circus, and Johnny Tremaine, which is an historical novel about Boston in the years leading up to the American revolution.

In all these books (except The Hobbit), a young boy is the "hero," or at least the central character. All of them involve some sense of adventure, and two of them are good historical novels. I suggest that these would be good "read with me" books, and maybe Mr. Boomerang (i think it's wonderful that he took your name when he married you) could sit down with him to do a "read with me" exercise using these books. All of them should be available through the library, although Toby Tyler might be difficult.

0 Replies

Oops . . . too late to edit. I've got a misspelling there: Johnny Tremain, with no "e" on the end of it.

0 Replies

Johnny Tremain is a good book, although I think I was a tween before I tackled it.

Never read Kidnapped.

How about the Hornblower novels, or the Aubrey"Maturin series (Master and Commander, etc.).

Jack London?

Mark Twain?

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/45/40/fd5b419328a0596f4a0fd110._AA240_.L.jpg

Robin Hood stories?

Here's a list of readership-targeted books: http://nancykeane.com/rl/#Readership

Quote:

Second Grade Series (Easy/Average/Challenging)

Easy

* Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel
* Morris and Boris series by Bernard Wiseman
* George and Martha
* Danny and the Dinosaur

Average

* Picture Book biography series by David Adler
* Cam Jansen series by David Adler
* Arthur books by Marc Brown
* Ramona books by Beverly Cleary
* Jenny Archer books by Ellen Conford
* Kids of Polk Street School Series by Patricia Reilly Giff
* Johanna Hurwitz books
* Horrible Harry books by Suzy Kline
* Amelia Bedelia books by Peggy Parish
* Junie B. Jones by Barbara Parks
* Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant
* Marvin Redpost books by Sachar
* Nate the Great by Marjorie Sharmat

Challenging

* Matt Christopher books
* Encyclopedia Brown by Donald Sobel
* Boxcar Children
* My Father's Dragon
* Great Illustrated Classics
* Debbie Dadey
* Amber Brown by Paula Danziger
* Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

1 Reply

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Starr,_Space_Ranger

Some of Heinlein's juvenile novels. Red Planet, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Space Cadet, Farmer in the Sky. Some of the others (such as Tunnel in the Sky, or Rocket Ship Gallileo) have themes that might be disturbing to an eight(?) year-old, so you may wish to pre-screen these.

1 Reply

Well, personally, i would put the R. L. Stevenson before Hornblower or the Aubrey/Maturin. However, all of those, including Johnny Tremain, are books which can be read again and again as the boy grows up. For example, the apprenticeship system in Johnny Tremain wouldn't mean much to him now, but it would be one of those things he could return to as he learned about that topic. In that sense, the Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin stories could work. I would point out, though, that there are some adult subjects in the Aubrey/Maturin novels which Boom might not want to tackle right now. A good example would the Gunner, the Gunner's wife and the old "Jonah" midshipman, with the botched abortion, and the murders and suicide in The Far Side of the World. Kind of hard to skim over things like that.

Otherwise, though, i think the Hornblower (been years since i've read them) books don't have any really embarrassing passages, and would be a good choice. Also, the historical novels of Kenneth Roberts.

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

How about Asimov? He has a veritable wealth of short stories, perfect for kids, many involving kids.

For a darker turn, maybe Ray Bradbury? Once again tons of nice, short stories.

Cycloptichorn

0 Replies

@Setanta,

There's one Hornblower where he cheats on his wife and get crabs, if I recall correctly, but it's one of the later ones.

0 Replies

@DrewDad,

I don't remember much of what I read before age 8. The funny papers for sure in 1st and 2nd grade, and magazines around the house - however poorly I read them. I probably looked at the Saturday Evening Post for the illustrations and cartoons (I think they had cartoons). Sometime around eight I enjoyed books I had to do reports on for school - an american history series for children.
I didn't have a lot of kids to play with back then though, as in almost none - but I think I had some natural affinity to books for pleasure.
Also, I might have been primed for liking to read by old time radio - shows like Sargeant Preston of the Yukon, the Lone Ranger.. starting out by liking stories and wanting to know what would happen, and not being provide ready made visuals.

I do remember that See Spot run, part of learning to read, was boring. But figuring out words was always fun, sort of a game.

0 Replies

http://nancykeane.com/rl/981.htm

Quote:

Non-fiction (3rd grade)

* Animal Fact/Animal Fable by Seymour Simon.
* Blizzard! The Snowstorm that changed America by Jim Murphy
* It's Disgusting and We Ate It! : True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History by James Solheim, Eric Brace (Illustrator)
* Lewis and Clark, and Me: A Dog's Tale by Laurie Myers with any nonfiction book on Lewis Meriwether and William Clark.
* Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. by Fleischman, John. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. ISBN 0-618-05252-6, $16.00.
* Shelter Dogs. by Peg Kehret
* Small Steps by Peg Kehret
* The Great Fire by Jim Murphy
* Woodsong by Gary Paulsen is non-fiction,

The one here that grabbed my interest is the one about Lewis and Clark....

0 Replies

I loved Frog and Toad and George and Martha....but methinks that Mo will not.

I checked on a list of books for second grade readers and here were some maybe Mo would like. ( anywhere from ages 7-10)

Building With Dad
Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog
Paint the Wind
Sam and the Lucky Money
The Dark Is Rising
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Dude, Where's My Spaceship?
Baseball Saved Us (historical fiction)
Chig and the Second Spread (historical fiction)
It's Raining Pigs & Noodles
Science Verse
Three Stories You Can Read to Your Dog
The Flyer Flew! The Invention of the Airplane (biography)
Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates (biography)
Smart About - George Washington Carver, The Peanut Wizard (biography)
What Presidents Are Made Of (biography)
It's Disgusting and We Ate It!: True Food Facts From Around the World and Throughout History (history)
My Librarian Is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World (how things work)

1 Reply

The Magic Schoolbus series. (Teaches non-fiction stuff, but uses magic and imagination.)

0 Replies

Rockhead said:

Quote:

Boom, I have not worked with young readers in a long time, but when I did, I tried to find a book that was just beyond their ability, that they really wanted to read, and then help with the tough words to keep the flow going.

this is a good idea. To help him feel comfortable you could scan the chapter you'll be reading and find the words that you think he may have trouble with or be unsure of in terms of definition and go over them with him- ask him to read them to you- if he can't, help him with the pronunciation and definition.

Or if he's fairly comfortable with the reading level of the book - you could ask him to look over the pages he'll be reading to see if he sees any words himself that he's unsure about.

A lot of times children don't like to read aloud because they're embarrassed about their lack of fluency compared to the other people who have been or are reading with them. This will help him feel more prepared- as well as aiding comprehension.

0 Replies

@Bella Dea,

Ooh. "How Things Work"

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51R573D6Y9L._SS400_.jpg

1 Reply

This is from Science Verse.

Don't know if this would be too confusing for Mo or if he'd just be like "blah".

Quote:

"Amoeba"
Don't ever tease a wee amoeba
By calling him a her amoeba.
And don't call her a him amoeba.
Or never he a she amoeba.
'Cause whether his or hers amoeba,
They too feel like you and meba.
What if a boring lesson about the food chain becomes a sing-aloud celebration about predators and prey? A twinkle-twinkle little star transforms into a twinkle-less, sunshine-eating-and rhyming Black Hole? What if amoebas, combustion, metamorphosis, viruses, the creation of the universe are all irresistible, laugh-out-loud poetry? Well, you're thinking in science verse, that's what. And if you can't stop the rhymes . . . the atomic joke is on you. Only the amazing talents of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, the team who created Math Curse, could make science so much fun.

0 Replies

@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

Ooh. "How Things Work"

I still own that book! It's great.

Surprising thing is that 90% of the people I meet don't know how anything actually works, so I pull the book out a lot.

But, I'm a gigantic nerd, who also likes to watch 'how it's made' on the Discovery channel, so...

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

My girls and I watch "how it's made" if the weather's too nasty to go outside.

0 Replies

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

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know