Let him pick out his books. Take him to any book section or book store. The more involved he is, the more he’s going to want to do it.
Try graphic novels, comics or even audio books. Maybe he doesn’t like reading a lot of text. I Survived series or the Dogman series are very popular for kids his age.
What does he like to do? Video games? Reward him with that🤷🏻♀️ Take him to a book store let him look around and pick things he may find a little more interesting to read. My son started enjoying the books like dogman that have cartoons in them.
Comics got my boy to read.
He got into a few books too like Captain Underpants
Dogman
The Bad Guys series
and our personal favorite, The Day My Butt Went Psycho
Check his vision. It happened to my sister when she did not like to read. Glasses made the difference.
This was right under this post lol. But try different types! Mine love comic, more pictures lol
I saw a post before that’s said they pay their kid$1 a book…but must be at least 150 pages!! Lol
Joke books, get one each and sit at opposite ends of the couch telling jokes to each other for ten mins. Find something he is into like Minecraft or captain underpants and read a chapter each a night. Look into books like famous five and secret 7 to see if he likes the mystery/kids clubs type. These are things I’ve done for my 9yr old after doing a reading program through the school
Find out what his interests are. Don’t limit reading to books.
Dedicate that 20 minutes either reading to him…alternating turns reading. Let him choose the book…no matter what book…just read it.
Have you tried ready to him? Get him interested in the story then maybe he will take it from there.
Try difference genres. For example, if likes video games have him read online game reviews etc. Be creative. Reading practice can be anything not just novels.
Let him chose the books. People won’t like this but when my stepson didn’t Listen we would have him read books in his room. His reading has improved so much
Buy the books he likes
Read with him. Or read to him.
Maybe he is into building things, bugs, plants and so on, find some books that will fit his interest
Let him choose the book. Even a comic book. Maybe a magazine on a topic he likes.
My son is 8, we will sit down & read books together. Like I’ll read a page & he’ll read a page. It helps cause he isn’t reading alone & reading the whole book by himself.
Comic books. My 7 year old devours them. Does he play video games? If so find comics about the games he likes (just check for age appropriateness cause some of the comics are not for children). Its really just about finding what gets him excited enough to take the time to read and learn about it.
Get him a Kindle and let him pick his own books.
My son was reading on a second grade level in 7th grade! We were always told to find books he was interested in. We found the Percy Jackson books and it made a huge difference. I also read with him b/c his reading was so bad he couldn’t remember what he read by the time he got to the bottom of the page. So he read 1 page and I’d read several. That would help him understand the story and also learn the cadence to read. By the end of 8th grade with a lot of help and a lot of work on his part he was on grade level. Good luck!
Does he have trouble reading? Is it hard. Some kids don’t like to read because it’s hard. Like my son. Or he does not understand. Maybe a comprehensive thing. Or it my not be any of those things. Especially if is teachers has not said anything. I don’t think I would reward him. I love to read. You either like it or you don’t. And he just does not. I probably would not force another. Maybe 10 mts. Never know, if you starts of small he may read longer eventually.
Have you checked to see if he sees the letters the right way some times when I read a letter trays to jump over another and I have to stop and start all over .
Go to the library and show him all the different genres. And let him read a little of the book before leaving to be sure he found “the one”.
Create a separate reading nook for him. It may be hard to read if he doesn’t have a proper place just for that. His room may be too distracting.
Find a movie he likes and have him read the book version. That way he knows he’ll be interested.
Use incentives for reading! $5 for each chapter book read, or $0.50 for each chapter read.
Read with him. He may be more apt to try if he sees you reading as well.
Read together. You read a page, and have him read the next one.
Best of luck! If can be hard to get kids interested at first, but once they find themselves reading of different worlds and adventures, hopefully it will click that they actually reading and suck them in!
This is long…First get his vision checked. But also get his VISUAL PROCESSING checked as well. My son has 20/20 vision but very poor visual processing skills. His brain could not process, sort and file the information his eyes were taking in. There are therapies available to help improve visual processing. This is especially important for any student that has ADD/ADHD or receives occupational therapy services.
Do not make him read in a certain level or grade range; allow him to read what he chooses. If he wants to read baby books or the exact same book over and over all summer, let him.
Read aloud with him every day, you read some, he reads some and when he struggles with a word don’t make him “sound it out” if he knew what the sounds were and how to put them together he’d get it right the first time. Just tell him the word and move on; the goal is to enjoy reading not battle through it. The more exposure to words the better he will become; you can’t achieve that exposure if you’re constantly fighting him to sound out the words.
Try graphic novels (DogMan, Bone, Fly Guy), joke books, Pick your own adventure books (he gets to make choices about how the story will go), and nonfiction.
If all that fails and he still will not read, get some WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS and have him tell the stories. The Bored Book is one of my favorites and tells such a great story without any words. There are lots of amazing, rich wordless books that will help build comprehension skills like character, plot, cause and effect, and inferencing.
To anyone that has read all of this, I hope it helps!
Read it with him say 1 page you and one him. Then get him books he likes or may be interested in reading.
Some Mama’s may disagree with this, but I’ve found a few channels on YouTube that are fabulous storytime channels. We watch a bedtime story together, then I just turn the volume off and let my son read to me. Lindsey Out Loud has the funniest, entertaining books for kids your son’s age. Kids Time Storytime is wonderful, and Awnies House are our favorites. I’ve always read actual books to my kids, and I enjoy the interaction during reading time. I have found ways to still interact with my son while watching these books on YouTube, and he enjoys it.
After we watched the Hunger Games movies my son (10) who has never been interested in reading (although me and my daughter are very much) wanted to read the books so he could see what he missed in them… maybe something like that would help
I never liked reading still don’t only did what I absolutely had to for school
Take turn reading paragraphs. My son was really behind until the pandemic and I was able to be on top of him with school. This seemed to build his confidence and now he’s back in in class learning and has made wonderful progress in his reading we were sure if he was going to be retained but he did it and is now going onto 4th grade
Find out what motivates him, like for every 25/50 pages he reads he gets his favorite candy or $$ or something he doesn’t normally get. Get him books about things he’s interested in
As a parent, my girls have seen me take time to read everyday. They both would get a book and sit with me and we would read together. Yes, when they were younger sometimes I wouldn’t read a page Bc I was helping them with words. After reading we would discuss what we read. Now since they are both in high school, we still continue to read. Luckily for me, they both love my favorite author as well, so we switch the books off. Once the book is read, we watch the movie. So maybe find books that also has the movie, read the book together and then watch the movie. Compare the differences.
Don’t fight it. They will learn at their pace. Mine had “difficulties” and he’s almost 18 now doing just fine. Sitting still to read and try to focus is not for every child. Maybe interactive games help, captions on the TV if that’s where they spend time. Let him pick out stuff interesting to him, maybe it’s comic type reading with lots of pictures. Not everyone learns the same!! Good luck.
Look up We Both Read books. Adult page followed by the child’s page. He is probably a level 2. Might be less intimidating if he knows he doesn’t have to read the whole thing. Both fiction and nonfiction available.
Find a subject he is interested in. If he’s not interested in the book then he won’t enjoy it
What movies or tv shows does he like to watch? Chose books that are easy readers of those movies or characters. Then branch out and up from there.
Read to him, get him books that he’s interested in, let him choose, give him incentives
If you found something he’s interested in to read …any sports he can read about legends etc …if he likes space then space books …etc
It can be hard with boys. Find books about things he is interested in.
Get books on whatever he’s interested in. I gave a g-grandson with autism. He will read anything concerning dinosaurs, wolves, etc. No matter the subject reading is reading!
Start off with finding something that he likes to read let him pick out the books that way it would get him going and better his reading skills
My grandson was reading at 2, because I’m hearing impaired and always have the closed captions on the TV. He started reading without knowing that’s what he was doing and was watching his favorite shows. It’s not ideal but like I said my grandson learned to read that way easily and he’s still excellent at it. Maybe some of the Nick kids educational shows would interest him?
A relative of mine hated reading, tested and had dyslexia. Had reading therapy and liked to read captain underpants books.
If he likes audio books or graphic novels try those out, too. Do have him checked by a doctor for dyslexia and/or his eyes.
Magic tree house for that age. They love them and want to continue reading. I would read a few pages then they read a few pages and so on and so on.
Find alternatives to books. have him read your grocery list . Comic book type books. If he has a hobby, find how to books for his hobby or successful authors who write about his hobby. Read the newspaper. Have him write letters to a grandparent or a pen pal and he can read the letters they send back. Read the sports page and stats if that is his thing. Help cook dinner read a recipe( math , even fractions. and reading ). Good luck. Required reading thru the school made my oldest hate to read. Make it fun but it is good that you care enough to have him read daily. Don’t give up.
Reading something like The Dark is Rising, The Alvin Maker series, Lord of the Rings have been big hits with my kids. Hearing a book read aloud is a fantastic way to introduce books and expand interest.
You should have been reading to him all his life…good luck getting started now
Mine is the same way… Gonna have to watch this for ideas.
Find certain things he likes like superheroes or something like that for books
My boys love Captain underpants
Has his eyesight been tested?
Get books on things he likes…like games, baseball, sports
Maybe He can earn his screentime through reading, no reading no tv or stuff. Every page could be 2 mins time or something
Find what he likes. Horror, comics , etc. We all loved goosebumps and scary stories so start w that.
Dissaplin might work
Try Enid Blyton, famous 5 books, they capture the imagination of children , they did us ! That’s for sure !!
My youngest hated reading had no confidence. By mistake I put subtitles on when she was watching her favourite tv program and she liked it so carried on, her confidence then grew and now she loves reading. Might be worth a try. Good luck
As a young boy my mother saw that I had boys publications, ie
Making him read 20 mins everyday , he may start to dread it and see it as a punishment which will put him off even more . Make it pleasant comics , his choice of books , games .my son was a late reader but loved books pictures feel of them, bieng read them . He eventually caught up in his own time .
Growing up, I hated the idea of reading/writing and was perfectly content to never do those things. Eventually my dad started writing, and at breakfast, would read me his work. Then, I would give pointers about what I wanted to hear more of and what needed improvement. Over time, I decided I could write a story and jumped right into reading/writing.
Guinness book of records is a good one to keep interest for a young lad. Try find books that hold his interest x
Video games and movies with subtitles. Its much easier to gain reading comprehension with subjects that you’re immersed in. I remember playing Pokémon at a young age and hitting a point where I needed to obtain a bike voucher. I didn’t know what a voucher was so I looked it up. Then I was able to finish that part of the game. Reading comprehension and problem solving.
My grandson hated reading, his teacher suggested “diary of a wimpy kid” now we have the whole set. Find something he is interested in
Just need to find what he’s into there’s usually a book on it.
What is he interested in…maybe start by getting books on how to do some of those things…if he likes dinosaurs get books on dinosaurs…where they lived…what they ate…that kind of thing
Try taking him to the book store and letting him pick himself out any book he wants. And either you could reward him for reading. Or say before any electronics are turned on you need to read, or before we go to the pool you need to read your 20 minutes. But making it fun it the best way. Letting him have part in picking out what he’s reading (to an) extent obviously sometimes can make them be more interested in it
Try joining your local library and go and spend a while seeing what books he likes the look of. If you struggle to get him reading get hom to read the back of the books to find 1 which he likes. Alot of library’s do quests over the holidays to help get kids reading more
Maybe play a game with him. Tell him you would like to take terms in reading to each other. What’s his favorite book or comic book.
My reluctant reader started with the captain underpants/dog man books because he found the layout easier to read and it didn’t matter if he couldn’t read all of the words. He lives minecraft and there’s so many official and unofficial minecraft novels that he devours them now. We used to really have to fight to get him to read. I think it was a confidence thing. The others that really helped were the code reading books and we would just read a couple of pages together alternating sentences and then talk about where we were in the story.
Controversial…but a tablet, if he wants to watch videos or music he has to be able to read what he wants to look up. My children have all had them and now my six year old can read and type in children’s things and it’s made a massive difference. Have you thought of him being more hands on and not the sit down bookworm possibly? mine still also like books x
I can read but not for to long cause after a while I would forget what I read previously and just become confused, or I would get a headache so it could be a number of reasons, thank goodness we have YouTube where any book can be read to you…
Buy him some comics it might be worth it to get him interested in reading.
What about comic books??? Xxxx
It was on my son’s chore list. So before he could play video games, all his chores, including 20 minutes of reading had to be done
Go to the library maybe
I found with mine I had to find things they were interested in and move from there my oldest isn’t an avid reader but scores well on reading age my middle one I had to find certain genres that suit him he loves football so we started looking for age appropriate fiction focusing heavily on sport and also the news paper was the teachers suggestion with my youngest I struggled for ages to get her to read but she fell in love with Roald Dahl when the teacher read the enormous crocodile in school so I bought every roald Dahl book I could find and it has worked wonders she went from 2 years behind her reading age to bang on where she should be so I would suggest working towards finding what he likes and going from there maybe ask him to write you a story to get a better idea of what he likes I have found that they focus on what ignites their imagination when telling a story so it may give you a good indication of where to start looking for books that will interest him also make sure to engage him in talking about what he is reading
When all else fails…
What about a reading app? Like homer or something
Do the library’s still do the summer reading challenges? That may work, both myself and my sister did them when we were younger and thoroughly enjoyed it!!
“I want to make him read”… that’s your first problem right there. Forcing him. Find what he’s interested in, and get him into that. If he likes cars/trucks/motorbikes, get catalogs and brochures and information packets about them and get him reading them. Does he like to build things? Get him reading the instructions. Animals/nature- create a scavenger hunt to find different critters and creations in the back yard. Cooking? Read the recipe AND do the measurements - English & maths in one! Find his interests, find his strengths and work with them. But you will get nowhere by “making” him do it, he’ll only rebel more, and hate it more.
You’re making a big deal out of it and he can feel your fear! Realise that reading isn’t about books or fiction. You haven’t said what interests he does have buy books on that! Get books of facts, manuals etc that he will want to read. Realize that looking up facts or interests on the internet is still reading. The chance to research something that interests them can often result in them reading and not realising!
Also think about literary non-fiction to start getting him reading more traditionally. A travel book, or an autobiography of someone they admire (Roald Dahl’s are hilarious). A magazine or graphic novel is also still reading.
For fiction, try Alex Rider series, David Walliams, Roald Dahl, How to Train Your Dragon series, The Mr Gum series, Percy Jackson, Cotterell Boyce. Don’t be upset if he wants to read easier books. You can also greatly improve reading scores by reading with them too and explaining tricky words. He might love the opportunity to spend some time with a parent reading to him before bed. Also consider Star Wars series designed to improve reading in poor readers if he likes Star Wars. I think they’re by DK.
Have you also tried colour filters?
Doesn’t have to be books Traffic signs, recipes, appliance instructions, my 7yr old likes skipping through the Spotify list and reading songs
Take him shopping and let him choose books for himself. He may want to read if what he reads is his choice
comic books, Japanese mangas
My son didnot like to read either, comic books were how we started.
Ok so first you gotta find something he likes and then they style of writing that appeals to him but also be super involved and be consistent with it. For us my oldest likes magma/comic/anime style books she will plow through those like nothing but other stuff is a battle so instead I just find stuff she likes it’s not about me or what I want her to read. I just want her to read I also try to get her read her video games find ones with good stories don’t lose hope just change strategy
My son is 9 and has a hard time reading we started out with the Dick and Jane books and then we moved to the kids National Geographic books that are easy and he really loves them
See if your local library is open & doing a summer reading program. Most of the time, they offer prizes for reading so many books or so many minutes a day. Let him pick out the books.
Comic books! My son was barely reading in the 7th grade, got a young male teacher who was into comics. That fixed the problem.
Are you helping him find/encouraging books of interest. I also gave my kiddo options, reading alone, reading to someone else (siblings, parents aunts/uncles, grandparents, etc) and shared reading where you (or some other person) reads with them and you read one paragraph/page sentence (and help with the words they grt frustrated with)…this helped significantly with my kiddo! Good luck! PS I forced my daughter to read min of 30 min a day last year when she was home from.school for covid…yes at first she didn’t like it but she jumped 5 reading levels from April 20 to Sept 20! And now I can’t get her to put the books down!
Turn on closed captions and turn off the volume on the TV. But how to books for his favorite video games.
Have you tried the Dog Man books? My 9 yr old son didn’t want to read either but it was part of their homework this year to read 20 minutes from a chapter book. And I looked and Dog Man is considered a chapter book even though it’s set up like a comic book. Another good series is the Captain Underpants books. We went from not wanting to read to finishing a book in a couple of days.
First of all, bribe him.
And DEFINITELY let him pick the book.
But again, bribe him… video game time, a layer bed time. Pizza night. Whatever. Just get him started and see if it’s something he will even enjoy.
Ask him what his favorite things are then find books about those. Read with him.
Reward system. He may never like reading but he HAS to do it. Buy books with subjects he likes or the easy readers that are leveled. Make him read for 20 mins before any other activity, such as tv or video games. Give him a sticker or reward coin so that he can buy a “prize” from you. Could be a pizza party. Could be a $10 gift card to use on a video game. Use what he loves to do to do what he needs to do. Just get him reading. It’s going to be a fight & hassle but now is the time to be “mean mommy” and make him read. He will benefit later & maybe be thankful.
Where the sidewalk ends by shel Silverstine. Then he might want to read the light in the attic ect. Try Ronald Dahl books like Danny, or Charlie and the chocolate factory. My 4th grade teacher read those books to us. I loved them so much, I read them to my girls and they are reading them to my grandchildren!! Also maybe around 12 look into a child called IT. It is a very sad story about an abused boy, but it helps to teach about empathy.
This book by National Geographic Kids is a favorite at my house. My son is almost 8 and this format keeps him engaged more than long paragraphs in chapter books. Plus the facts are pretty cool. My daughter is 12 and she loves this book too.