DD has lost interest in reading fiction

[natashal]

My dd is 7.5 and has been reading for almost 2 years now. She does read Science books during the day sometimes, which seems to be her main interest in terms of reading material. But she used to read chapter books at night, and now she just goes to sleep. I'm not complaining about the sleep, but in my happiness that she was just going right to bed, I didn't realize that her reading had completely stopped. When she does read before bed with us, she usually chooses books way below her reading ability. I don't mind her reading those books, I guess I'm just wondering if it's a phase or if I have a girl who doesn't like to read on my hands. I guess it's just foreign to me, as I loved to read as a kid so I don't even know if that's what it would look like, or if I should try to encourage her? She does write short books all day long (they are very short, but some days she'll have written 6 different books) but she seems to have lost interest in reading. I don't want to push her into doing something she doesn't have a natural interest in, but somehow it seems like it's important? But I don't know if that's because it was something that was important to me, and I don't want to push that on her. Anyway, your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[sunnyday]

My son is the same age, and he's been in a kind of place where he likes his text in short snippets: nonfiction books of facts, graphic novels, picture books that sort of thing. He also complains a bit of his "head feeling weird" if he reads for too long. I worried about farsightedness, then I read that eyes change and acclimate and change and acclimate as they grow -- so maybe he was just in an in-between awkward phase, like a puppy with too-big paws? Anyway, I am really trying to continue reading aloud at a range of levels. Stuff he could read himself if I could convince him, to stuff that's way beyond him. I also try to ask him to read aloud to *me* somewhat regularly, so he has me right there to ask about unfamiliar words and/or I can gently correct him if he's making glaring mistakes. I feel like he's hit a place where his vocabulary and phonics *knowledge* are running up against his decoding and comprehension *skills*, so while he's still a strong natural reader, he needs some help with seeing how unfamiliar words break down, how they sound, what they mean.

 

FWIW, he just spent this evening plowing through short stories and short chapter books and got a huge infusion of confidence from it.

[Tracy]

My ds5 reads very well, but prefers non-fiction.  I continue to try to find fiction books to his liking, and he will sit and listen to me read them.  But for his own reading, it is mostly non-fiction, with some mythology and folklore thrown in occasionally.  He has never taken to books like his older sister, and I was worried about it for a while.  Then one night, when I was reading to him a book about the planet Venus (which I thought was totally  :thumbdown: , because how much can you say about it?).  We didn't have time for the whole book, and he was SO disappointed.  I had never seen him like that before about a book.  It just goes to show you that people are different.  As much as I would love for him to love the classic literature that his older sister loves so much, is it really fair for me to judge his interests as less valuable than hers or mine?  He still reads quite a bit on his own.  He will probably never be the language arts kid that his sister is, but STEM is just as interesting and valuable in the long run.  

[Dmmetler]

For DD, that came from hitting a point where books that had enough depth to be interesting mostly weren't on topics that is interesting to her. A lot of books about the 3rd grade level are school stories, and a lot of books at the 6th grade + level are romantic! relationship-focused books, especially the YA labeled ones Classics help here, as does genre fiction marketed to adults (older books are often better for her content-wise) because of the higher vocabulary level without the content being inappropriate, but she still reads far more non-fiction than fiction.

[Tanikit]

Are you still reading to her - if you can pick some really good books and read them to her before bedtime and stop at an important part - then tell her she can read more or she can go to bed. If she goes to bed then that is fine too - pick it up again the next night and just keep reading. I know some children do stop also if they feel that a parent will not read to them anymore and also you may pick books that have interest to her that she would never have picked herself.

 

My DD6 has been choosing non fiction over fiction to read to herself and I also wondered why, but that is what she likes though she still loves the stories I read to her. Non fiction is in many ways harder to read I think as the vocabulary is often harder and more specific so I am quite happy if she reads this.

[natashal]

Thanks for this, it all confirms how I was feeling. Last night she wanted to read about biomes, which was not that interesting to me and was essentially a school textbook, but she checked it out from the library and was very interested in it. And I thought well, who am I to say she isn't interested in reading, it's just not what I am interested in. When I try to read fiction to her, she just is NOT into it. I tried Charlotte's Web and Harry Potter and she would rather read Magic School Bus books or nature books. So I guess that's just where her interest lies and I should support that. Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. Oh and that makes sense about the materials and what certain age levels focus on. 

[Arcadia]

 Last night she wanted to read about biomes, which was not that interesting to me and was essentially a school textbook, but she checked it out from the library and was very interested in it

 

She might like these from the library

Biomes of the Earth series

Biome series (A walk in the ....)  by Rebecca L Johnson

[KSinNS]

I know several kids, my oldest included, who went through this at this age (and sometimes older). In the case of the kids I knew, they liked the concreteness of the non-fiction and the short snippets in the books, over the fiction, which often included things they hadn't yet experienced. Also, the vocab is presented differently so it's harder to figure out words you don't know. We (and most of the other parents) kept reading aloud so they were hearing fiction, and let them read what they wanted, and they eventually started loving fiction. 

[nerdybird]

Maybe you should try reading some history books? Stuff like Horrible Histories or biographies or autobiographies of important figures may be appealing to her.

 

Or perhaps some of the more boring (imo) science fiction like Asimov or Heinlein may be her thing.