No More Captain Underpants!!!!!!

The best way to get him to read something else is to let him read all the CU he wants. Soon he'll tire of them or just read them all and then he can move on. I wouldn't do anything to deter a six year old from reading.

I was told by a teacher that any reading of children's books was good reading.

So.......if he wants to read those, let him. That is what she was basically saying.

Straight from a teacher's mouth. Hope that helps! :)

The best advice I ever received about encouraging kids to read was to let them read what they are interested in. My oldest loved instruction manuals. My next one love Captain Underpants. And so on... As long as he's reading, it's all good :)

Yes, my older son did that. I didn't say anything and let him have them. He got tired of them in time and moved on to other things.

By making them forbidden fruit, so to speak, you might actually make him want them longer and keep him from being interested in other reading. Instead of balking at the series, find some graphic novels for him to read that deal with history. He's a bit young, but Horrible Histories is absolutely fabulous, especially interesting to boys, and will teach him a great deal about history in sometimes shocking, but always interesting ways. You can find them on Amazon - some of the series is actually hard to find.

Good luck - I know Captain Underpants is a pill, but I felt better when I learned something about the author, Dave Pilkey. He has terrible ADD and some of what he writes about is because of the teachers and his school. Bless his heart, I'm sure going to school back then was horrendously hard for him. It's nice that he is so successful now after all of that. And I think that my son was only really into the series for 2nd grade.

Dawn

Let him read all of them and then he will move on. Reading is also for fun.

We read all of the Captain Underpants (available at that time) and eventually our daughter moved on..

It is just a phase. Honor his taste in books and be glad it is not some horrible bad habit or drugs etc..

My 7-yr old son did the CU thing about a year ago - probably as much as your son is doing now. But now I can't even remember the last time we read one. We moved next to the My Weird School series, and then read every one of the Zack Files series (about 30 books in that one - I think it has been his favorite). Right now we are reading a funny little series by an author named Tove Jansson (Comet in Moominland is the first book in it). We read about half the Magic Treehouse series - he liked the original better than the later Merlin Mission ones. We've also read some one-off books - I especially liked reading How to Eat Fried Worms, since it was a book I read when I was young.

My 9-yr old daughter loaned him her Diary of a Wimpy Kid books to read, but I don't think they are appropriate yet for him. There is a lot of sarcasm written into it that I just don't think he catches yet (Greg says he is the best friend Rowley could have, yet is so obviously selfish and is NOT a good friend). I found myself stopping many times to point out that "You know, Greg is saying 'X' but that's not really true is it?" so I have steered him away from those for the time being.

And he has just discovered the Bone series of graphic novels. There is another graphic novel series called the Amulet series that both my kids like.

Have you read them? They are funny! boys love them, and I know some girls who do too. I am a reading teacher and we were just discussing how to get kids to break out of their preferred series, and its really hard. I woudl try something in nonfiction with pictures and captions. Maybe something the teacher could recommend. (I teach middle school and these are a hit for the struggling readers work with.) There is also the Bone series which s smlar but is written at a 5th grade level, so they would be working at a higher level and they are funny too. If that doesn't work, then let him read what he wants to for fun, and different books the teacher assigns for school. Really, don't you want him reading? That's the important thing. If you try to stifle him too much he may quit altogether and that will not do what you want!

Both my kids loved the Captain Underpants books. My son doesn't enjoy reading. My daughter is a true book lover. And she is particular about what she reads. She is 10 now, but was reading books of her own choosing at age 6 as well, and had strong opinions about them.

She really enjoyed the Geronimo Stilton books. Have you let him try those? Stories from Wayside School are pretty funny... we often read those (1 chapter) as bedtime stories. There are also some "scary" funny ones in the Campfire Weenies short story collections. They are very much the type of books that boys go for.
And really, let him read what he likes. He's 6. He'll have plenty of time in the coming years to read what he "has" to read for classes. Or if you really want to MAKE him expand his horizons, make him a deal: For every book he reads that isn't CU, he gets to read a CU. :) He can choose the alternate books (but you get veto power--like if it is too short or something)...

Oops.. almost forgot-- NOW my daughter tends to read fantasy. She is in cyber/virtual school online and gets to make some choices about some of her Literature assignments. She is 5th grade. Her first book choice was "War of the Worlds" (not a condensed or altered version). Her latest choice was "The Dark Is Rising" (its a biiiiiiig book for a 5th grader). Her list options included things like "Little House on the Prairie" and "My Side of the Mountain", but she didn't want to read those. She also selected "Inkheart" as a gift from the bookstore when she was 9. She and her brother went thru a phase where they only wanted to read "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", too. So we have all those. They started making their own comic strip diaries, lol. So, yes, they will eventually move on to other things. Even my daughter's fascination with Geronimo Stilton eventually waned... that was her favorite when she was in K and 1st grade--even though she could read an entire book in about 2 hours.

Has he read the Magic Tree House series? May be a bit in the easy side for him, but keep in mind that he needs to balance his reading ability (9-10 y.o. level) with his maturity/interest level (6 y.o.). Let his teachers help him choose more advanced books in the classroom and let him read what interests him for pleasure. You want to make sure reading stays as fun and interesting to him as possible for as long as possible.

When I help at my son's school library, some of the more popular series are The Magic Treehouse, the Boxcar Children, Hank the Cowdog, Geronimo Stilton, Goosebumps(RL Stine), and also Ricky Ricotta(Dave Pilkey). Some 4th and 5th graders read books by Beverly Cleary, (Andrew?) Clements, and Peg Kehret. They also seem to enjoy non-chapter books such as the Book of World Records/ Ripley's Believe It Or Not, books about drawing cartoons, Look-Alikes and I-Spy (but they have to check out a chapter book first).

I have a son who is a voracious reader who had a period with the Captain Underpants series. Don't sweat it, he'll move on. If he is 6 and reading on a 4th grade level, he is fine. It is also fine that emotionally he wants to enjoy being 6 and reading Captain Underpants.

Glad to hear that you have a bright little 6 year old. Please just remember that even though he is capable of reading at a fourth grade level, he is still a 6 year old. Captain Underpants is what he wants to read BECAUSE he is 6. Just be happy you have a child that enjoys reading. Let him read what he enjoys and before you know it he will move onto other things. Forcing him to read things he doesn't like is going to make him not want to read at all. Good Luck!!

There's a series of books about a kid named Stink. One we have he figures out how to get lots of gumballs.

I would not be happy with those books, but I would not let it become a battle. Act like you don't care or you will turn him into a non reader. Also encourage him to read any easier books that he might have missed, having such a high reading level at such a young age means he missed a lot of great books! Just because he CAN read at a 4th gr level, doesn't mean he has the life experience and maturity of a ten yr old and will ENJOY books at that level. It will not hurt him to read books written for a 2nd or 3rd grader. At a 4th grade reading level students are no longer reading to get better at reading, he should be reading to learn about the world, to comprehend and talk about reading, and to learn that reading is fun. I agree with everyone who recommended the Magic Tree House series and the non fiction companion books, just have some other books in his room but say nothing about the Captain Underpants

My 65-year-old SIL was the one who got my boys started on that series. I think she liked them more than the boys did. Of course she also sent my DH The History of Farting for his BD. (see, it could be worse!)
I would suggest finding a book you would enjoy reading to him. My boys loved that until their late teens.

my son read it all! He liked the twisted humor in Capt Underpants. He loved the Magic Treehouse series....but they're 2-3rd grade level. & then he branched out into action/adventure. He loved exotic locations, & really enjoyed a vintage series from the 1960s. He pretty much hated anything I liked - Charlie Bone, Artemis Fowl - what a freakin' hardhead! He wouldn't read either of those series, because I liked them....

By 6th grade, he was reading at 12th grade level....& boy, was it challenging to find age-appropriate/reading level compliant material! He eventually branched into Tom Clancy, military non-fiction, & also some fantasy/sci-fi. He's 15 now & still reading....still action adventure, mainly. But I consider any 15yo who chooses to read....a success!

Be glad he's reading. Seriously, let him read what he chooses.

I don't know what reading level these are, but the "Magic Treehouse" series is a lot of fun....

It is about a boy and a girl that travel to different times.... when my son was in elementary school, he really liked them.

They are chapter books, too, so that might be more challenging... (I don't know what the Captain Underpants are like, sorry...)

I went to a seminar about getting boys to read. Not because my boys didn't read, but more to KEEP my boys reading. I learned a couple of (to me) important points (my oldest was in Kindergarten when I went)..
- quantity matters more than quality. The point this guy made was if you have read the Twilight series (and about 3/4 of the Moms in the room had), it's written at a 6th grade level, and he was PRETTY SURE we were all older than 6th grade. Repetition is the key.
- audiobooks are GREAT. The ONLY thing kids don't get from an audiobook that they get from a written book is the spelling. But, they also learn inflection, pronunciation, and reading for effect. It also makes them better auditory processors (so I started listening to audiobooks when I work out - and you know what? My auditory processing skills improved, too!)
- nonfiction, nonfiction, nonfiction. Boys are about 'doing', not 'reading'. Does he like baseball? Find baseball books - history, autobiographies, etc. Animals? Find books about animals.
- read out loud together. Til he's 90. (Okay, an exaggeration on the speakers part, but it stuck in my head.)

My oldest son is in 3rd grade. He reads on his own daily, but he and I still read out loud together EVERY night (or, almost every night). We finished Harry Potter (all 7 books, and he couldn't see the movie until we finished the book) and now we're working on The Chronicles of Narnia. I think we're going to start The Hobbit next.

HTH

My sister got sick of them, too, and she laid down the law with my nephew who has been an excellent reader since he was young, too ~ he could read one CU or other book she wasn't fond of AFTER he had read two others she approved of. He tried to push her into dropping it to one after one and she said he could go to one after three and he quickly cooperated. Now it's he can read the ones she doesn't care for after he's completed book reports on his own time, not for school. He has read all the Harry Potter books, the Wimpy Kid, Chronicles of Narnia and really likes anything fantasy, so he's quite capable, sometimes he wants the easy books.

Maybe you should stop asking your son what he wants to read and pick them out...and get them from the public library, not buy them, especially if they're not something he's thrilled with. If he's a good reader allow him to read the silly stuff after he's read what you picked out. And make sure his teacher knows what you want him and don't want him to check out at school.

I agree with lots of the other momma's, ANY reading is good for him. And his teacher should know that! My husband got his Master's in Education a few years ago and that really stuck with him. My 7 year old read all of the Captain Underpants books and then moved on. If you let him read them all, after that he'll need to find something new. We even let our son read (age appropriate) graphic novels (Ninjago, Smurfs). As kids get older there are books they have to read for school, right now you want reading to be fun.

Other "funny" series at this age level are Franny K Stein, about a little girl mad scientist and George Brown Class Clown. If he likes mystery and fantasy combined the Magic Tree House series is good. There is also Stink Moody - Judy Moody's little brother, Geronimo Stilton - this has lots of pictures but is 2nd-3rd grade reading level, the A-Z Mysteries, Jigsaw Jones, The Bailey School Kids is a mystery but has silly parts to it, the Buddy Files is a mystery that a dog solves.

The other suggestion I have is to get non-fiction books at his level about anything he likes. My son likes outer space, frogs, penguins and sharks so we have lots of non fiction books about those subjects. Since it's a subject he is interested in he will read the non fiction books, it's good practice for when kids need to read more non-fiction.

Just remember any way you can make reading fun instead of a chore will prepare him for the future. Good luck!

I avoided them at all costs. I have never read one, nor do I want to. Based on the title alone, it sounded like it would foster potty talk and nonsense.

Anywhoo...now that I've vented, I'd suggest getting him interested in historical fiction, mysteries, or the classics. My boys were early readers as well, and from the get go, I introduced and encouraged them to read fiction like the Hardy Boys, the Sterling Point history series (non-fiction), and tried and trues like Treasure Island, White Fang, Call of the Wild, and Robin Hood to name some. Even the C.S. Lewis books like the Narnia Chronicles were a big hit with my kids when they were at his reading level.

If you have trouble getting him to try reading new things, you might even consider checking out a book club at your local library for guys his age. Most libraries do a good job at picking age appropriate but challenging titles/series for young readers to read and discuss.

In case you're wondering, my oldest is now in middle school, but prefers reading non-fiction. The last book he read was on genetic engineering...no joke. He still likes fiction but prefers technical and science related material and history these days. Go figure!