Wrangling Reluctant Readers--Part 2
- Angela Massengale
- Nov 27, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 1, 2023
In part 1 of this blog post, I talked about ways to engage children in reading at a young age, to hopefully create a love of reading as they grow. However, sometimes students become reluctant to read anyway. It's important to remember that this can happen no matter how much time and effort you as a caregiver have put in. It doesn't mean you have failed! Let's talk in this post about how to handle a child who has become a reluctant reader.
To begin, think about and try to understand why they might not be interested. Developing a love of reading has to begin with being allowed to explore topics that they are interested in, whether that is sports, history, animals, fantasy, or even scary stories.
A lot of children only read what is required of them in school, which (let's be honest) is quite often not fun. For example: when I was growing up, from 8th through 12th grade, my school required students to spend one quarter of every school year doing a novel study on Charles Dickens, and another quarter on Shakespeare. Now, I was always a voracious reader. In seventh grade alone I read my mother's entire Danielle Steele collection, all 3000+ pages of Gone With the Wind, and the entire Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel. Getting me to read was never a problem. But after reading Great Expectations in the 8th grade, I hated it so much that I refused to read Charles Dickens ever again. To this day, I still cannot stand his books. Yes, even A Christmas Carol. So I very literally and unapologetically failed an entire quarter of English every single school year from 9th through 12th grade because I doggedly refused to read Charles Dickens. However, I deeply loved Shakespeare, and I always made an A during that quarter of the year, bringing my semester average to a C. It was worth it to me. I gladly took the F rather than deal with Dickens, knowing I'd make it up with Shakespeare. This shows a point that many adults forget when trying to get a child to be excited about reading:
Children can be, and often are, just as opinionated and stubborn as adults.
They know what they like and won't they don't, so don't discount that when you're looking for things that interest them. They absolutely need to be included in the conversation.
Another wrong turn I see frequently is a parent who attempts to make their children read by inadvertently shaming them. Think about a time when you or someone you know has said to a child, "You've been playing video games all day. Turn it off and go read." It may not have been the intent, but to the child, reading has now become a punishment.
Instead, consider chatting with your child about what they are currently reading and ask them to tell you about it. It doesn't have to be a play-by-play--simply ask about the plot, the main characters, and what it is about the book that is engaging to them. If they don't have an answer or haven't found anything enjoyable, chat with them about what they do enjoy and see what books are out there that feed into that interest. Some children don't want stories and are more interested in the hows or whys. If you have a kid who is constantly link-clicking through Wikipedia online, you've got a realist on your hands. That's fantastic! Fiction or storytelling isn't necessarily going to be their thing, so look at nonfiction or reference books. Nonfiction has a dedicated audience all its own, and nonfiction materials have higher reading levels and vocabularies than their fiction counterparts--not to mention how much benefit there is in developing reading comprehension!
In the next blog post, we will finish looking at students who are reluctant to read by delving into some other options and resources for helping students bridge the gap, succeed in ELA in school, and develop a general enjoyment of reading for pleasure. Below I have listed additional resources for struggling readers.
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