Blog Widget by LinkWithin

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Pirate would rather not read.

First day of school silliness


The Pirate is supposed to read for 100 minutes a week. This works out to 15 a day, or, as we're trying this week, 30 minutes on Monday through Thursday. The Pirate hates it. Yep, I said it, My Second Grader Hates To Read.  As you can imagine, this is horrifying to me.

The problem isn't with the reading itself. He can read. He reads slightly above grade level, officially. He reads Wii instructions easily. He reads Lego descriptions at Amazon.com without issue. But "books are so boring, mom!" The problem is that books for second graders, early reader books, ARE boring. It's like the cartoon "Little Bear" in book form. Yawn.  The problem with chapter books is that he is already huge fans of things like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter- the movies. He wants that in his books too, but Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings both start so slowly, and his comprehension and patience aren't quite there for a long slow buildup. (For a second grader, a long buildup is anything over a couple pages.)

I've spent a lot of time paging through the level three readers finding interesting ones, and I've been compiling a list of potential chapter books for a second grade boy. Here's the list so far:
Suggestions from the comments:
    (Please note, most links go to the first book in the series on Amazon.)

    Any other suggestions for action packed books for little boys?  I'm not picky at all (reading is reading is reading, there are no trashy kid's books), but I'd rather it be text in linear form and not cartoon/comic/manga style.  I know there is someone out there who is going to suggest books from their youth. I will not argue that the classics aren't any good, but I will argue that the classics are slow. Slow is our problem. If your classic is slow, especially slow to start, he's not gonna enjoy it.

      11 comments:

      1. Apparently I have Jack on the brain...what about the Jack Stalwart series? or Jack Sparrow? Those get checked out by a lot of my students. Ready Freddy? I know you don't want manga/graphic novels, but Dragonbreath is a huge hit here, too.

        ReplyDelete
      2. I understand why schools want kids to read but those reading charts just suck the enjoyment out of it for kids. It's been a while since my son was that age - is he old enough for the Goosebumps books? Are there any magazines for that age?

        ReplyDelete
      3. Roscoe Riley Rules by Katherine Applegate flies off the shelf at my school. It is a series and they are funny! The first title is "Never swipe a bully's bear." My son loved The Secrets of Droon series in second/third grade. Gordon Korman has several young adventure series like Titanic and Everest that might appeal to his adventurous nature. Good luck. This is a constant challenge for us librarians as well. I finally quite bugging Groovy Girl about reading chapter books and let her just get the nonfiction she loves.

        ReplyDelete
      4. My daughter hates to read now because after the required reading, she is forced to write in her reading log with set sentence starters, etc. It's a chore!! A chore I tell you!

        ReplyDelete
      5. What about the Magic Treehouse series or the Warrior series? Michael hated to read too (still does) but loved those books. Also, Percy Jackson has some of the magic elements but I think is geared towards a slightly younger reader so they might get going a little earlier.

        ReplyDelete
      6. I'm glad someone else brings up my personal thoughts - a lot of books for that age group are just BORING. No wonder most kids that age aren't really into reading! I went through this with my son as well.

        ReplyDelete
      7. I second the Magic Tree House series.

        ReplyDelete
      8. Oooo thank you for this! My 3rd grader is the exact same way. She wants to read, she says she loves it, but all the books are too boring for her. I'm having some success with the Little House books and she loves Bad Kitty. I'm gonna bookmark this!

        ReplyDelete
      9. My son loves The Adventures of Captain Underpants series and the other books that he has written. He is required to read 20 minutes a day and even in 4th grade it can be a struggle to find the books that really catch his attention. He loves graphic novels though and I've come to the conclusion that for him reading is reading :) What about the series featuring the Bailey School Kids? The first one is Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots. Or Flat Stanley? My son used to really enjoy those books. Good luck!

        ReplyDelete
      10. I highly recommend the Hank The Cowdog series. They are so funny! Also, I think Mini-me started A Series of Unfortunate Events when he was in second-grade but I think maybe we read those together for the first couple. My oldest devoured the Goosebumps books at that age - not necessarily what I would have chosen for him but he loved them and as long as he was reading, I was good with that.

        ReplyDelete
      11. A couple ideas: first, rewards! If the school reading chart is as boring as my kids' were - make your own. Let him put a sticker on each day, and when he completes a week he gets a small treat (like a tiny toy or a cupcake).

        Second, if he's interested in books that are too hard right now, get two copies and have him follow along while you read aloud. That might help with the too slow problem. This made a big difference for my daughter.

        ReplyDelete

      Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment! Whenever possible I reply to comments via email, so please leave an email address if you want a direct reply. Anonymous users, I'm sorry, but until you stop leaving spam, you can't comment.

        © Blogger templates Psi by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

      Back to TOP