Making Reading Fun

I soooo agree with Julie G. He sees it as a chore, not as something to be enjoyed. My son was the same way and it just killed me because I am such a lover of books!

So I read to him, and it kept him interested in stories. Then I found books that came with a CD, so he could follow along.

He is now 14 with his own Kindle and I catch him reading 'The Warrior Cats' series under the covers at night.

Give him time and don't push it- take a fun trip to the library and let him pick the books... and eventually, he'll find his way!

If he actually started reading 18 months ago, then he should be reading magic tree house by himself with no problems by now.

It sounds to me like you are pressuring him. Because of this, he sees reading as a chore he has to do everyday, rather than as something fun he wants to do. My 5 year old reads 2 hours a day. It's her choice. I just buy the books and take her to the library. Let him run the show, and then he will engage. Reading is fun, but it isn't if mom wants you to do it.

Stop asking him to read. Read to him, and when he is ready, he will do it himself. Believe it or not, my daughter maybe read to me for a total of 30 minutes. She kept her reading ability secret, and only let us know about it when she was truly fluent and comfortable with her skill. Kids don't need to work on reading, they just need to be read to. They read when they are ready, and it has nothing to do with us. I know this sounds strange and against the grain, but this is closer to the truth than the failure of approaches our schools take towards reading. We are a highly illiterate society because we've sucked all the pleasure out of reading by making it a chore. Your son doesn't need a perfect book to engage, he needs to be left alone to do it when he's ready. This is how Finland does it, btw. They don't even teaching reading till age 7. They have a 100% literacy rate.

I suggest that you have him help you read some pages, while you read most of the pages aloud. Follow along with your finger, and stop reading when you get to a word or sentence he should know and have him read it. Engage him in the story. Ask him what happened, and what he thinks might happen next. Introduce him to context clues, point of view, and other important aspects of reading. The more you engage him, the less boring reading will be.

Honestly, my real recommendation is to just to have him read to you a tiny bit, and then read to him for long periods of time. He'll pick up a lot of reading just by following along with you on the page. The key is to make reading wonderful and fun. If you speed up his learning process so much that it outpaces his enjoyment, it'll defeat the purpose.

That said, for a book that he can read, you might try Mo Willems's books -- the Pigeon books, Elephant & Piggie, etc. The humor is hilarious -- even adults appreciate it -- but the language is very simple, and it's repetitive (in a good way), so you son can gain a solid mastery of the words. And, of course, don't forget Dr. Seuss. Many of his books were originally intended as beginning readers, and they still work brilliantly.

I took my boys to the library every week and let them pick their own reading material. My boys both preferred non-fiction at that age as opposed to stories. We had reading time every day, but I let them take the lead. They could read, or just look at the pictures or have me read to the. One they started school they had to do the 30 minutes of home reading a day for school.

I used to ask our daughter to read "Recipes" to me.

Write down the list and then Read the grocery list to me while at the store.

She did not have to spell it correctly, just enough so she would know what it was..

I had her read some of the comics from the newspaper to me .

Or I would have her read map directions to me..

If she did not know a word I had her spell it for me. Many times just by spelling it, she could figure it out.

This way she was actually helping me.

http://www.scholastic.com/titles/rickyricotta/
The Might Robot series is good. My son likes these books. He's 7.
The boys in his class like this series. And sure, my son has the super hero or star wars type books too. But those are not the only books.
Scholastic is a good site to look up books and per age.
http://www.scholastic.com/home/

Eric Carle also has many books... that are for older reading abilities.
Also remember that picture books, does not mean a book is too 'easy' for a kid. Many picture books, are higher level books, as well.
http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html

My kids never really liked the Magic Tree House series.
They found it, boring.

Geronimo Stilton is also a good series. Lots of Teachers have these books in their classroom.

"Little Bear" by Elsa Holmelund Minarik, & Maurice Sendak is also a good series and it is a chapter type book.

National Geographic also has good kid series books.
Look it up on the Scholastic site or online anywhere.
My son and daughter likes these. Books about creatures and nature.

Your son is young.
It has to be remembered, that even if a kid is good at reading... remember the kid's age, still.
Just because a kid can read well or advanced, it does not mean their OVERALL development/cognition/emotions are developed at the same rate.
Your son is still, 5.
And the "topics" for reading, even if a kid is ahead in reading, will greatly vary for older kids. ie: you wouldn't want your 5 year old, reading books that are geared for older kids, the topics, are very different and the concepts. ie: Tween aged books. Are not for younger kids.

Reading and reading ability, is only one... of the abilities a kid has. It does not also mean that the child's overall development, is the same as their reading ability. And reading ability is not the same as age related development in other aspects.

Kids like when books are read to them.
As your son gets older, he will then... start to read on his own. By himself.
Or want to.
And he will then get to know himself and what genre of books he likes.

Your son is only 5.
Attention spans of 5 year olds... are not such that they will sit there and read an entire book by themselves.
Let your son like reading. For fun.

My son can read very well.
My Husband tried pushing advanced books on him, chapter books that older grades were reading. At that point... my son got fed up with reading.
My Husband had the wrong thought... that just because my son was reading books with pictures/illustrations in it, that it was 'baby' books.
But that is not true.
As I said, Authors like Eric Carle for example, also has many illustrated books, that are higher level reading.
Even my kids' Teachers, said that.
AND once a kid starts reading more advanced stuff... you will have to be careful of the "topics" of the books. ie: you wouldn't want a 7 year old reading books that are about teenager topics or boyfriend/girlfriend type scenarios.

You have to find books he likes. Which readers are you having him try? My son loves the Young Cam Jansen series by David Adler and the Henry & Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant (who also writes many other books). There is a series called Minnie & Moo, but I don't remember the author. These are all readers, but not the super easy ones, and the stories are pretty good. When he's ready, there are also Cam Jansen chapter books.

Arthur books by Marc Brown are great. They make readers and chapter books. My son also loves the Oliver and Amanda books (author's name is Jean Van Leeuwen, I think) and the Frog & Toad books by Arnold Lobel (he writes a few other good ones too).

He can also read picture books to you. Take him to the library and let him choose some.

The key is letting him choose. He'll find some he likes besides Ninjago and Star Wars.

My boys really liked Scooby Doo at that age. There are a variety of Scooby books at various levels. They also liked mysteries. My husband used to read Hardy Boys books to them (old classic ones by the original author, new ones aren't as good). He would read them one chapter per night so it did take awhile to get through a book. Cam Jansen and Encyclopedia Brown are fun mysteries. Does he like sports? Dan Gutman has a baseball card time travel series that my older son really liked.

My six year old and I recently finished the Wizard of Oz series and are now into the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. The Dragon books are GREAT for boys- the writing is fast paced, engaging, and funny. There are lots of illustrations, even though they are definitely chapter books. They are pretty violent, so I suggest you read them first to see if they match your comfort level. They offer lots of opportunities for silly voices and "acting" the book versus just reading it :) You could even assign him parts to read, like all of the dragon's "lines."

check out boysread dot org. It offers all kinds of books based on didfferent ages. I so miss the days I could sit with my kids on their beds and read together. Now at 14 & 17 our tradition is gone. Maybe when I'm an old lady they'll come read to me. ;o)

Also try to act out the stories, or encourage use of different voices for different characters, once the story is done ask for him to use his imagination and describe things about the story, etc. Which of his friends is the main character like, who would he want to be in the story, etc.

have fun mama - enjoy these days - they go by so much more quickly than it seems...