10 Kids Books For the Reluctant Reader

"Mom, reading is my favorite thing to do in the whole world. I love it ... just like you do." Listen, it took everything in me not to melt and float away in tears of joy when my son said this -- without prompting.

It makes me exceedingly happy to see this youngster get so drawn into a book he's reading that we practically have to cut deals with him to put the book down and go to sleep! But I know that not every kid is that into reading. Some young folks find it an instant bore and, when approached with the idea of reading a book quietly for 20 minutes, are like:

But don't give up -- no matter how adorable your "little sloth" may be. There are ways to get your kids excited about reading. Last year, for its Summer Reading Challenge, Scholastic offered 10 solid tipsfor pumping up the enthusiasm when it comes to chilling with a good book. It was smart, but simple suggestions like reading the book first and then seeing the movie version or starting a series. My son cannot get enough of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The guy's even re-reading certain faves in the original 10-book series on my Kindle ...

... which is actually a cool way to get the reluctant reader in your crew to sit up and take notice. Try loaning them an e-reader, like the Kindle. I mean, they're similar to tablets in tap and scroll functionality -- which your kids are probably pretty familiar with already -- without all the Minecraft. That's the cool thing: Kindles and the like are purpose-built reading devices, so your kids won’t have access to Minecraft (unless you download an e-book about it. Ha.). Same goes for access to social media, movies and TV shows, games or apps. It's all about reading on a lightweight, easy-to-use screen. Keepin' it simple.

 

Since March is National Reading Month, I asked Amazon Senior Book Editor, Seira Wilson, for some e-books that will get the kid that's not into reading to possibly change his or her mind, especially those tweens, who could text you a list of things (using only emojis) that they consider more fun than reading. Wilson spends her days reading hundreds of books each year to make reco's to readers, and she specializes in children’s books, so I'd say we're in pretty good hands here.