Books that will make my almost 8-yo think reading isn't so bad?

[pinkmint]

So my oldest is starting to really get the hang of reading but states that he doesn't like to and considers it boring, not fun and something to avoid. 

 

I've been trying to encourage him that reading can open up a whole new world to him, one where he can read his own game/ lego/ whatever instructions. One where he can write things, read signs, directions, maps and things that actually interest him. But of course the best practice would be reading an actual book. I want him to have that moment where he reads a book and gets drawn in and forgets that he's doing something he "has" to do. 

 

He has kind of a "hater" attitude towards books, but I'm not taking it too seriously because he's immature (see his age, LOL). 

 

He likes mechanical things, science-y stuff, adventure stuff... 

 

What are some good book recommendations that are not too baby-ish in content, but also not so difficult it would frustrate him as a beginner? 

 

I have the book "Honey for a child's heart" which is a book about book recommendations for children by age group but it still doesn't really tell me what would interest him without a lot of trial and error, which I may try anyway. Just thought I'd ask here. 

 

 

[regentrude]

The first books my reluctant reader read out  of his own free will were books that had tiny snippets of stuff all over the page. Sciency sound bites, facts about sea creatures, short paragraphs about Greek mythology. Many boxes with self-contained "stories", each of which were only 1-2 sentences. That way, he could read in short portions without feeling intimidated by a whole page of text. (This was not a struggling reader, he simply had not interest in reading books yet).

Later, we got him to read by providing audio books. He read many chapter books after he had listened to them on CD and decided he liked the story and it was worth while reading.

 

He did not start reading for fun until middle school. Now as a teenager, he loves books, takes literature courses at the university, buys lots of books, writes stories. 

Edited October 23, 2016 by regentrude

[BarbecueMom]

For my oldest, it was the Dragon Masters series, which is one of the "Scholastic Branches" book series. Our library has all but the most recent one, but they are like $3.50 each new. From there, he went on to the Dragon Masters Academy series, which is hilarious, so I encouraged him to read aloud funny passages to me.

 

I often have to "popcorn read" the first chapter or two of a new book or series with him (he reads a page, I read a page, etc.), then he takes off with the book and finishes it on his own.

 

ETA: For science, I can hand him the "Let's Read and Find Out" books, which are very simple, but spark an interest. Then he searches the library for related books that are a bit "meatier". The Magic School Bus picture books, followed by chapter books, are fun for this too.

Edited October 23, 2016 by BarbecueMom

[TABmom]

One of the first books like that for my son was the Dragonbreath series. It's adventurous and funny, and it's almost graphic novel style with lots of illustrations.

[J-rap]

One of my younger daughters didn't enjoy reading, even when I got her the super fun books that all her older siblings loved!  

 

I finally realized that she didn't want to read super fun (make believe, fantasy, etc.) books.  She wanted to read real-life type books, ones she could really relate to.  So, I started out by getting her historical fiction that would center around a girl her age.  It was the first type of book that really sucked her in.  When she got to an older reading level (5th/6th grade maybe?) we were able to move on to lots of biographies about girls her age, usually in historical settings such as WWII.  She loved those books.  

 

She is a good reader, but now that she's in her 20's, she is still really mostly an informational reader.  That's okay.

[Lady Marmalade]

For both of my kids and two of their cousins it was Geronimo Stilton that really got them interested in reading.  They are pretty abundant at the library, so you shouldn't have trouble finding them.  The adventures are fun and it's not written in a baby-ish tone at all.

[poppy]

For my daughter it was Diary of Wimpy Kid series. I didn't think middle school boy issues would appeal so much to a 7 year old girl. But there are short sentences , lots of images, lots of (gentle )man my parents don't get me, and it is genuinely funny . Even for my kid who I think only gets half the jokes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Caroline]

Farrar made some great suggestions in this thread.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/627214-books-for-ds10/?do=findComment&comment=7256456

[Guest]

OK my seven year old could read for QUITE a while before he embraced it as a thing to do....the *thing* that got him reading was reading aloud to me and his big brother these little LEVEL ONE readers. From there he went to books like Spot, Big Dog Little Dog, Dragon's Egg, Mice are Nice, etc....and onto the Pathway readers.

 

I have this huge collection of awesome super fun books for boy-boys that I thought he'd be stoked to read asap.

 

But, no. He evidently needed to back it allllllll the way up to some primally comforting place.

 

I required he read at first for fifteen minutes a day,building up to 30 minutes. He could choose to read those same science readers over and over and over again for that amount of time or something else and he chose the baby readers for a LONG time. So

 

After a while I said if he wanted to read the baby books for fifteen minutes, he could, but afterward we would buddy-read something else for fifteen minutes.

[Julie Smith]

for a very easy read, high adventure, quick read with lots of pictures try the "boy vs. Beast" series.

[gingersmom]

My son and I sat outside under a tree and read the Ricky Ricotta series. That began his love of reading. We still talk about the books today.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Ricky-Ricottas-Mighty-Robot-Collection/dp/0439435226

[ktgrok]

Calvin and Hobbes style comics? Not sure of reading level there.  But something graphic with lots of pictures. 

[FaithManor]

For my reluctant reader, Magic Treehouse got him going and then he was off and running. Didn't take long after that ro work his way up to, Bunnicula, then the Lightening Thief followed by Harry Potter. But he really was difficult to get going until someone gave me a Magic Treehouse book which I read aloud.

 

There is also the How to Train a Dragon series which I have been told is popular with a lot of young kids.

[gardenmom5]

what finally got dudeling  reading was kindle minecraft books. most downloaded for free off amazon (onto an old smart phone).  

 

[bettyandbob]

I kept reading aloud for a long time. I kept trying different genres. Sometimes I would start the book aloud and let her finish.

 

DD could write at 4 so I knew she could read. She wrote sentences to go with her art. She did that without prompting. Anyway she refused to really read. I kept plugging away. I think she was 10 before she started to choose to read. At that point I started getting everything I could in her preferred genre.

[mellifera33]

My son is a struggling reader (dyslexia) and he resisted independent reading for a long time. What finally got him going was a set of high interest low level mysteries from High Noon. He realized that reading wasn't just something that mom makes him do in order to do something more fun. Now he's enjoying Magic Treehouse books, and I sometimes find him choosing to read instead of another activity.  

[maize]

Dragon Master and Kingdom of Wrenly series are good for fiction. Since he likes informational kind of stuff (particularly common among boys) can you get a bunch of books from the library on subjects that interest him? My oldest son devoured every book in the children's section about dinosaurs at around that age.

[Cecropia]

How about the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books?  There are only short passages to read before the next "choice" and they are usually heavily illustrated.

[sgo95]

What about the I Survived series? 

[Guest]

My lad enjoyed JC Greenburg's Andrew Lost series. If your lad is mastering his phonics, alternating reading a paragraph aloud will get him going. From there, Eric Sanvoisin's The Ink Drinker series, Ursula K. Le Guin's Catwings series., For his own silent reading, try a DK science or nature encyclopedia or something from their Eyewitness line. The print is large, and he can read captions till he wants to tackle paragraphs. The Kingfisher Basher Science may appeal, again he will read captions while a more experienced reader does the paragraphs...but if his ears are perked, he will be learning.

 

To, incorporate reading as part of his life: card games and board games where there is some reading needed: Family Fluxx, Holiday Fluxx, Apples to Apples Jr, Mille Bornes, Clue, King of Tokyo, Heroscape (good price on ebay for master set if no cousins have one to pass on), Ticket to Ride, Worlds Fair 1893, etc. Snap Circuits Jr may be a good investment, the paragraph that goes along with each project may be motivational and the project itself gives him something to talk about. You could also do a recipe a week with him, from a childrens cookbook.

 

BrainPopjr is good (movie of the week is a free app, you can subscribe to website) and the science book that goes with it is available used - Popular Science Almanac for Kids. Some things are dated, but use that for discussion.

 

Many newspapers have a childrens insert called The Mini Page. If yours doesnt, perhaps the online Archive (1969-2007) would have stories of interest.

Edited October 23, 2016 by Heigh Ho

[littlebug42]

Magic Treehouse books are what did it for my daughter when she was younger.  She was off and running after that. 

[Jaybee]

My boys have all enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes books. At first, to look at the pictures, then to read. Geronimo Stilton has also been a hit with my youngest. One of mine did not enjoy anything much but "fact" books until he was in 4th grade. Read-alouds with him were not very enjoyable for me, lol. Maybe checking out a variety of types at the library and trying different types of read-alouds will give you more of a feel for what will appeal to him. Though I will say that for the "fact" ds above, really enjoying reading himself didn't kick in until a little later than for my other kids.

[EmseB]

So, my guys both loved Calvin and Hobbes for a time, then moved onto Tin Tin. Both are comics, but generally good quality.

 

I got my 7yo into chapter books with the A to Z mystery series. He loves them, and loves that it's a series so he's always reading with the idea that he gets to read the next one when he's done.

 

Oddly, neither of my guys have cared for Magic Treehouse for some reason.

[Jaybee]

So, my guys both loved Calvin and Hobbes for a time, then moved onto Tin Tin. Both are comics, but generally good quality.

 

I got my 7yo into chapter books with the A to Z mystery series. He loves them, and loves that it's a series so he's always reading with the idea that he gets to read the next one when he's done.

 

Oddly, neither of my guys have cared for Magic Treehouse for some reason.

 

Oh yes, we have the whole set of Tin Tin. Mine never got into any of the usual early reader series, though I tried! Calvin and Hobbes has a good vocabulary.

[mamakelly]

Mercy Watson is the series that got my kiddo to love reading! They are hilarious.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Captain Underpants

 

Yep, it's goofy, crass, "twaddle", etc.  I fully credit the series for turning both of my boys into readers. 

Edited October 23, 2016 by SparklyUnicorn

[Farrar]

My son and I sat outside under a tree and read the Ricky Ricotta series. That began his love of reading. We still talk about the books today.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Ricky-Ricottas-Mighty-Robot-Collection/dp/0439435226

 

Same here for one of my boys. They were so absurdly easy but looked like chapter books. It gave him so much confidence. They have cool new covers and have been reissued since my ds enjoyed them too.

 

Seconding many of the ideas here, especially comics in general. Calvin and Hobbes has a really high vocabulary level, so I don't think it's one of the best things to start with for most kids. But some other options for newish readers in graphic novels are great...

*anything from TOON Books - these are more on the easy reader end, but can still be fun

*Tiny Titans

*Flying Beaver Brothers

*Lunch Lady

*Squish

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's a ton of great gn's for this reading stage out there. A lot of comics are accessible for this reading stage - Tiny Titans is the easiest, but there are others, like Mouse Guard and Super Dinosaur. And there are so many imprints - from Scholastic and a number of other big publishers. Plus smaller titles. One of my boys really loved Guinea PI(g) at that stage and it's pretty unknown.

 

Seconding Andrew Lost. And chipping in that the Magic School Bus chapter books are easy to find out of print and are decent - like Magic Treehouse but science. And all the Rob Roy mysteries are good too.

 

Also seconding the blurby science books. All those DK things. And the (groan) Ripley's books. Yes, it's mostly pictures, but they do read them.

 

There are books with Legos as the hook as well. I'd check that stuff out routinely. Yes, it's blurby stuff about engineering or architecture and legos, but if the goal is see joy in books, that's good stuff.

 

I would focus on reading aloud books that are appealing to a sciencey kid too. So you might read aloud the first George's Secret Key book. Or science fiction like The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. Or just read aloud more nonfiction. Maybe Archimedes and the Door to Science?

[heartlikealion]

Here are a few we bought for ds, but I don't know if the genres would appeal to your ds.

 

Magic Tree House

Boxcar Children

Encyclopedia Brown

Undead Pets (we also bought Zombie Chasers but he hasn't read any yet)

 

I would go to the AR website and use that as a tool to help with difficulty level or grade appeal or whatever. It's not perfect, but it can be helpful.

http://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx

 

We plug in books to see their point value and I think that's based on length/difficulty for that particular grade.

 

He hasn't finished one yet, but I bought a pile of "Who was?" books. For now they might not fit your criteria, but if you find a person that your ds is really interested in, you may want to keep them in mind.

whohqbooks.com

[mamiof5]

Magic Tree House

Box car children

Biographies

Sir cumference

 

And our 8 yr old LOVES sports, so he's read a lot about football, baseball etc

[Joyofsixreboot]

Age appropriate graphic novelish books and Captain Underpants were necessary to suck mine in.

[happi duck]

Iirc, the first stuff that made my ds *want* to read was instructions for something he was interested in doing.

[pinkmint]

Thank you for all the good ideas. Maybe we can go to the library this week with a list of these ideas and see what they have. 

 

 

[whitestavern]

My ds is not a reader. He pretty much would rather do anything than read. However, he read this book:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Ren%C3%A9-Goscinny/dp/0714861154/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477258354&sr=1-1&keywords=nicholas

 

And then proceeded to read the entire series (maybe 4 or 5 total) in about a week's time. He just absolutely loved them. Now, they didn't convert him to become a reader, but maybe they will work for your son. I think my son was about that age when he read them.

[AmandaVT]

DS really enjoyed Nate the Great when he first started reading. They're slightly older books, I remember them from when my brother learned to read in the early 80's. They have a ton of them at our library which was good because once he got in to them, he wanted to read them all!

[Kareni]

I posted these titles recently in another thread ~

 

This book is a fun one to browse ~  Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words  by Randall Munroe.  He can read it; however, it is more fun to read it with someone who actually knows the correct terminology for the items in question.

 

"Have you ever tried to learn more about some incredible thing, only to be frustrated by incomprehensible jargon?  Randall Munroe is here to help.  In Thing Explainer, he uses line drawings and only the thousand (or, rather, “ten hundredâ€) most common words to provide simple explanations for some of the most interesting stuff there is, including:
 

• food-heating radio boxes (microwaves)
• tall roads (bridges)
• computer buildings (datacenters)
• the shared space house (the International Space Station)
• the other worlds around the sun (the solar system)
• the big flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates)
• the pieces everything is made of (the periodic table)
• planes with turning wings (helicopters)
• boxes that make clothes smell better (washers and dryers)
• the bags of stuff inside you (cells)

How do these things work? Where do they come from? What would life be like without them? And what would happen if we opened them up, heated them up, cooled them down, pointed them in a different direction, or pressed this button? In Thing Explainer, Munroe gives us the answers to these questions and so many more. Funny, interesting, and always understandable, this book is for anyone—age 5 to 105—who has ever wondered how things work, and why."

 

**

 

You might take a look at The Way Things Work Now by David Macaulay; the text may prove challenging, but he might enjoy looking at the pictures and reading what he can.  (It's likely your library might have the earlier edition of The Way Things Work/The New Way Things Work; the edition I linked is newly out this month.)

 

 

"Explainer-in-Chief David Macaulay updates the worldwide bestseller The New Way Things Work to capture the latest developments in the technology that most impacts our lives. Famously packed with information on the inner workings of everything from windmills to Wi-Fi, this extraordinary and humorous book both guides readers through the fundamental principles of machines, and shows how the developments of the past are building the world of tomorrow. This sweepingly revised edition embraces all of the latest developments, from touchscreens to 3D printer. Each scientific principle is brilliantly explained--with the help of a charming, if rather slow-witted, woolly mammoth.
 
An illustrated survey of significant inventions closes the book, along with a glossary of technical terms, and an index. What possible link could there be between zippers and plows, dentist drills and windmills? Parking meters and meat grinders, jumbo jets and jackhammers, remote control and rockets, electric guitars and egg beaters? Macaulay explains them all."

 

Take a look at Macaulay's other titles as well.

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[fdrinca]

One suggestion I haven't seen is a magazine subscription (or checking out magazines from the library). My son enjoys Ask magazine, but really will really **any** magazine that comes, including his little sister's Babybug :) There's something about the magazine (1) arriving as a surprise, (2) not being book-shaped, and (3) having small blurbs that really clicks for him.

[Zinnia]

Mine love Tin Tin.  Even my non-reader 8 year old.  :)

 

Also, magic Tree House, Encyclopedia Brown (I tricked them a few times by reading it aloud just to the point of the answer, then needing to go do something; they picked it up to finish it themselves), and one loved Diary of a Wimpy Kid, twaddle and all.

[Alicia64]

My two 13 year old boys love to read. I think it had everything to do with the billion read-alouds we did, plus I put an audio book into the car every time we went anywhere. I still read aloud every day and they're required to have a silent read. Which they don't mind.

 

I highly, highly suggest The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. He has book recommendations in it for every age. I've used his book for years.

 

It's fine to get a used one and not the newest.

 

Alley

[alisoncooks]

For my oldest, it was the Dragon Masters series, which is one of the "Scholastic Branches" book series. Our library has all but the most recent one, but they are like $3.50 each new. 

 

 

Dragon Masters is also what got my oldest into reading (she was 8.5).  Before that, she rejected everything I offered (Frog & Toad, James/Edward Marshall's Fox series, everything).  After she got into Dragon Masters, she went on to the Kingdom of Wrenly series and Magic Treehouse and My Father's Dragon.

 

(She's a bookaholic now.  She is constantly bugging me to request certain library books and then check to see if they are in. :))

[nd293]

For us it wasn't as much about a specific book as about getting good at reading. Ds had no interest so I always chose a book for him, on a topic he'd enjoy (knights, dragons, magic, animals) and just insisted on 1 chapter or 30 min a day. Skill and exposure to enjoyable content eventually let to him wanting to read by choice. I probably chose books for him for 3 years before he started to choose. This was actually a huge advantage, as he read less than some of his peers, but much better quality. Alexander McCall Smith has a few simple chapter books for children which have his characteristic gentle humour and wisdom - both series I'm thinking of are set in Africa. At a slightly higher level, ds loved Pippi Longstocking.

 

A big thing at first was not to choose books that were too long, and even more than that, to choose books where the lines were widely spaced for easy reading. This was an issue for a long time - he was ready for complex reading material but that tends not to be spaced for early readers, which he needed to make tracking easier. Watching him learn to read and fall in love with reading was so exciting.

[Renthead Mommy]

Given the choice between reading a book and bobbing and weaving to avoid being hit as I throw an entire set of encyclopedias at him, my son would chose option 2 every time. 

 

Magic Tree house were good at that age.  So were Lego books.  Not a lot of help. 

 

But I did end up finding a book and series that he ended up enjoying that sort of hit home.  It is too far above an 8yo, but even when I found it for my then 5th grader, it was actually a book on tape.  There are five of them total, and he reads them if forced, otherwise he is very happy to listen to them. 

 

The Charlie Joe Jackson Guide to NOT Reading. 

 

 

[Liz CA]

My ds needed some encouragement as well and we read "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" - the story of the Endurance and its crew. It was an adventure story that ended well.

After that he graduated to Calving & Hobbes and many other books.

Edited October 24, 2016 by Liz CA

[meena]

Calvin and Hobbes style comics? Not sure of reading level there. But something graphic with lots of pictures.

Yes! Comics/graphics are what got my reluctant reader interested in sitting down with books. He loves Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes. He has also really gotten into The Action Bible. Geronimo Stilton is a series all my kids have enjoyed. There are graphic novels and chapter books, and most libraries have a ton of these so they're easy to get.

 

At a library book sale this weekend I got a series called Explorers Wanted! by Simon Chapman. They are chapter books with interesting and witty facts/text, lots of pictures, and interactive features that make the reading experience fun. Example: in the Safari book, there's a chapter called Alone in the Thorn-Scrub. On the second page of the chapter there's a box about scavengers titled "Waste recycling - savannah style" that shows sketches of 4 different creatures, then has the reader choose which method of eating each creature uses. Following that is text about exploring and navigating.

 

You also might try audio books as a way to build interest. Then you can read paper books by the same author or the next in a series. Beverly Cleary might be a good author to start with.

[kubiac]

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales (graphic novels about history) and the I Survived books mentioned above are in high demand at DS's school.

[LucyStoner]

Calvin and Hobbes has helped a lot of kids I know learn to read for fun and level up their reading skill.

[vmsurbat]

I concur with all the suggestions to continue to keep on hand a variety of interesting easy readers, but I have to mention a book that will always be dear to my heart because it is THE book that vaulted my I-don't-read-books-any-longer-than-30-pages son into "real" books:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Horn-Spoon-Sid-Fleischman/dp/0316286125/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477316119&sr=8-1&keywords=the+great+horn+spoon

 

which hit the right combination of excitement, adventure, humor.  DS read it in three days, chuckling all the while. :-)