Perhaps I should start as I WAS a reluctant reader. Or maybe reluctant is the word that doesn't fit, it should be I was a stressed-out, busy, stretched-too-thin reader. Summer is typically when I dive into books, books, and more books. Reading is my favorite pass time and I read each day. In the summer I love to tackle heavy books ("East of Eden", "Mayflower", "Jane Eyre", etc.) that I might not have time for during the school year.
This summer however life was frantic. Besides taking care of my three boys, we remodeled our house, sold it (twice), packed up the entire thing and moved. I just was too warn out to go serious with my reading. I wanted lighthearted and fun. I did not want to back up and reread! I did not want to sketch a map of characters in the back cover. I wanted brain candy! So I spent a great deal of time this summer reading magazines, articles online, and fluffy books. So while I was reluctant to tackle a 600+ page novel, I did not give up reading. I adjusted my style.
Many of our students are reluctant readers. Is our goal as educators to get them to read OR to get them to read what we deem worthy? I firmly believe we need to let our students read whatever they like as long as they are READING! Yes we can introduce them to classics. Yes we should read aloud books of quality. Of course we need to pack our bookshelves full of as many choices as possible. But sometimes a kid, and an adult, just wants a little brain candy!
Below is a sampling of books for reluctant readers:
"Fly Guy" Series by Tedd Arnold
"Don't Let the Pigeon..." Series by Mo Willems
"Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa" Series by Erica Silverman
"Daisy Dawson" Series by Steve Voake
"Cinderella Smith" Series by Stephanie Barden
"Stink" Series by Megan McDonald
"My Weird School" Series by Dan Gutman
"Captain Underpants" Series by Dav Pilkey
"How to Train Your Dragon" Series by Cressida Cowell
"Ramona" Series by Beverly Cleary
"Fudge" Series by Judy Blume
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" Series by Jeff Kinney
"NERDS" Series by Michael Buckley
"39 Clues" Series by various authors
I realize that all of these are series books and there is a reason behind it! Reluctant readers love series books because they do not have to start from scratch each time they start a new book. The characters, setting, format are usually quite similar. This can be a life saver for a struggling reader. My goal is to get them reading now so they can love it their whole lives!
