Ideas to Inspire

Reluctant readers are:

• male and female
• young and old
• able and struggling
• overscheduled and overwhelmed

I’ve talked to some adults who just don’t read books, in fact they haven’t picked up a book since school. It doesn’t matter if we came from literature-rich homes (our parents had books at home and bought books for us) or literature-poor homes (there were very few to no books in the house and reading wasn’t a priority for anyone). Of my three boys, only one of them is a reader, yet their rooms were filled with books and they were read to daily. My husband and I both are readers, and visiting the library was a weekly ritual. Since I have reluctant readers in my two older boys, for the past five or six years I’ve been on a mission to find books that reluctant readers, especially reluctant boy readers would enjoy.

So what factors play a role in motivating reluctant readers? Over the next five weeks, I’ll be talking about the following factors and offering book suggestions for each category.

Factors that get reluctant readers to pick up a book:

1. Titles that grab their attention
2. Cover art that catches their eye
3. Authors that they’ve come to rely on for a good story
4. Opening paragraphs that draw them in
5. A book that they just can’t put down.

Week one: Catchy titles

How to Steal a Dog by Barbar O’Conner – “The day I decided to steal a dog was the same day my best friend, Luanne Godfrey, found out I lived in a car.”

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin – After high-school junior Naomi conks her head, she can’t remember anything that happened since sixth grade.

Humpty, Dumpty Climbs Again by Dave Horowitz- Humpty Dumpty used to love climbing, but after his big fall his confidence is shattered. The doctor can fix his shell, but how will he get his nerve back? When one of the King’s horses gets stuck on a cliff, Humpty has a chance to show the world what a resilient egg he can be.

Horseradish : Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid by Lemony Snicket- “It is not very polite to interrupt a person, of course. But sometimes if the person is very unpleasant you can hardly stop yourself.