Here is my opinion…when you go to the library…,.your pick two books that are easy peasy with good picture support.
She can also pick two books. Her choice…you don’t care.
Then set a non-negotiable amount of time EVERY day where younwill read aloud to her. PERIOD. She doesn’t have to love it…but she has to do it. Let her choose the book(s) she wants read either from your library at home, or the ones she borrows. Do this every day…with ONE day off per week. Start with 10 minutes.
Rule of thumb for picking books for young children…pick something with enough pictures that she could tell you the story back by using the pictures.
When you are reading aloud…just read the book. Don’t ask questions, don’t solicit comments from her. Just read when you start your daily reading. As time goes on, you may find she wants to contribute. If not…keep reading around to her.
Do you notice any common themes to what she’s picking up at the library and bookstore? Is there a particular genre?
When my dyslexic daughter was that age we went to the library every week and I picked a stack of books in addition to whatever she chose. I put them on her library shelf and walked away. If she read any of them, I made a mental note to look for similar books.
My daughter wouldn’t let me read to her for quite a while, but she loved having her older brother read with her. In the beginning he did all the reading, but as time went on she started to read some parts to him. Will your daughter read with your older children?
She sounds like an engaging little girl. Is enthusiastic about picking books at the library. Doesn’t want to SIT and be read to or read herself. The “being quiet” part - not asking questions, having to sit - may be EXACTLY why she is disinterested in books. She likes and maybe NEEDS to be more engaged - to have the “serve and volley” of reading - the dialogic reading method.
If so, a couple additional suggestions.
Get a puppet and have the puppet read the story aloud. That’s you of course. But the idea of dramatic play + reading and her getting involved may peak her interest.
Picture books are not just for preschoolers! If she had favorites when she was younger - Berenstain Bears, Curious George, whatever - still choose those! To be honest, I have always felt many of the easy readers/reading level books are soooooo ho-hum.
Your goal seems to be for her to enjoy leisure reading. To develop a like or love for an activity someone has to enjoy doing it. If she is doing ok at school do not force extra silent reading at home. She is only 7 and can still decide in a year or whatever that reading is something she enjoys. There is not a “times up” age she must make that choice by.
That said, I would also make sure that her schedule includes blocks of time that the tv is off and tech is unavailable - so she can find and choose other non tv/tech activities to participate in.
One more thought - does your library have programming for school aged kids? Like a cooking class, art class, book club - anything? Being in an active program - again, not sitting - but in a literacy rich environment will also plant positive seeds in her mind for literacy.
My daughter also loved the Magic Tree House books and Ramona at that age. She also loved the old Judy Blume books but they may be too advanced yet. Really love the idea of reading to the family pet if there is one.
Does she have any particular interests that she might enjoy reading about? At that age my D, who was not a big reader, enjoyed non-fiction books about all different types of animals (which are available at all different reading levels I came to learn). I did sneak in a few non-fiction books (often with animals) so she would read some books with a plot but in general I figured as long as she was reading it is OK.
Agree with the above that Amelia Bedelia books are fun and when a bit older the Wayside School series was a hit with bot S and D.
It’s an odd year for reading development. Our youngest went from Goodnight Moon in September to Eragon in December with a brief jump through Captain Underpants and Ricky Ricotta.
Our favorite books on tape for that age were Hank the Cow Dog. Very entertaining and funny.
Mine liked the books on tape. The older series books by Beverly Cleary were good, but they have a lot of old fashioned words and my daughter would stumble on those (and the meaning of those words). She didn’t like Magic Tree house for that reason. Cam Janson was better. She also like the teen movie magazines (at the time Hannah Montana and High School musical, but I’m sure there is similar junk in them today).
You can then let your child pick books that sound interesting. My daughter still enjoys Captain Underpants and a few similar books, but I believe they are all higher reading levels than what you are looking for.
Would it help to incentivize it somehow? She needs to earn her TV or other screen time by reading. It can be minute for minute or 2 minutes of reading for 1 minute of screen time.
If screen time is not that important to her, then make it something else. Extra time riding her bike or playing games or whatever is important to her.
How about the You Read to Me and I’ll Read to You books by Mary Ann Hoberman. Lots of repetition in clever rhyming lines that you read with your child. There are several books in the series.
Have you tried poetry? Some kids really love poems. I used to have a couple of anthologies of kids’ poems and read them to and with my kids before bed. They were in big print, with color illustrations like a picture book. Bonus: poems are short and can have value in teaching rhythm and rhyme.
As for the reason for her reluctance, if there any chance that she has tracking or similar vision issues? Reading is much less fun if you are having trouble focusing and tracking. If you have any reason to think she might, you may want to look for someone who does vision therapy and can evaluate her. My now-18 year old had vision therapy because she was using one eye for close vision and the other for distance (or something like that). Her tolerance for reading did improve after a few months of therapy.
My youngest went straight from Nate the Great to Harry Potter. * I am a great believer in reading to kids at their interest level. A lot of early readers are kind of boring. (Even Frog and Toad*!) So I read my kids can’t book down books that were well beyond their current reading level. That made them want to read. I will also say, I think I’m good at reading aloud. I had a fabulous 5th grade teacher who read us everything from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring to Winnie the Pooh and I always kept her in mind when I read to my kids.
Branches by Scholastic are current, high interest book series geared towards developing readers around the same reading level as your daughter. In particular, I would recommend Owl Diaries (M) and Princess Pink and the Land of Fake-Believe (M). Another series to try - Mercy Watson (K).
I hate hate hate being read to and always have. I also hated the “wonderful magical” stories for children. I liked stories about real kids who led normal lives that were similiar to mine. The B is for Besty books were my jam.
One of my daughters was like me and loved graphic novels. Not Captain Underpants ( I would have found those stupid at her age and so did she). And Amelia Bedila drove is both crazy ( why is she sooo stupid my kid asked) She loved the Babymouse books. Babymouse though , well a mouse, is really just an anthropomorphic little girl who has issues with friends and family. It’s a very “ realistic” series.
Look at the kind of books she is picking out. Is she attracted to fantasy? Stories about kids her age? Let us know and maybe someone can suggest books like that at a lower reading level.
There are some other books by Arnold Lobel she might enjoy since she enjoyed Frog and Toad:
Mouse Soup
Owl at Home
Grasshopper on the Road
They’re the same level and the same kind of humor.
My early readers also liked Danny and the Dinosaur, Sammy the Seal, The Fire Cat.
There are also some good books ar a slightly higher reading level that she might enjoy:
Little Horse by Betsy Byars (a series)
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Sometimes with younger readers it encouraged them if you read a page, they read a page, and so on. It can enable you to read longer, more interesting books and helps keep them from getting frustrated.
@mathmom please believe me that I have tried reading to her in all kinds of genre’s. From picture books to Harry Potter. I think I’m a decent reader. At least my other kids loved being read too. She really likes using technology, so audio books might work. I’m just not sure that will help her with literacy. But perhaps, it will accustom her to engaging with stories without video attached.
@maya54 I think you may be right about all the “magical” books. She chooses them, but I think its because everyone else, including her sisters, gets so excited about them. I think she may be more like you and respond better to more realistic stories. She seems to like humor the best.
Everyone processes things differently. My H likes to read me things from his FB pages from people I know but am not friends with on FB. If he is reading me something that I will need to remember later then I have to ask him to hand me the computer so I can read it myself. I just won’t be able to remember it if is read aloud to me while I can process differently and remember it better if I read it myself. Maybe your daughter is that way with being read aloud to.
Your kid is definitely growing up with technology. My kids were deeply immersed but the constant barrage of video and audio simply did not exist even at that time. I had to take typing in HS–my kids did not–they grew up on a keyboard but can’t write in cursive worth a durn.
Adults still love books because we grew up with them as a more singular source of entertainment. That was our childhood and we want to pass it on. For some it’s truly a comfort food experience to curl up with a good book.
But now I read them on my phone or computer–those suckers are a pain to haul around! And now I spend more time with audio books and podcasts than I do physical books.
And the better the reader of the book the better I like it. (Not to say you aren’t a good reader!) Just that readers of books these days can garner their own reputation for excellence. Just like favorite actors.
(Before I get negative reactions I’d point out that there are MANY times I’ve watched a movie before wanting to read the book!)
So just throwing this suggestion out there since your kid likes technology. Humor her.
Take that library card and go on-line with it.
Our library has TONS (simply TONS) of kids books on-line. Audio too. It’s a huge candy store. Download (borrow) whatever she likes. And best of all no fines or having to return any!
Plus you may be able to get loan services from surrounding counties to even make the selection larger and find what you want if you need something special.
A teacher friend of mine recommends that kids who are not drawn to reading themselves, and who don’t like being rad to, try the audio-version of these books, Being read to by a cassette/CD, following along and turning the page when the “boooop” tone sounds, somehow allows these kids to feel like they are more in control than when they are being read to. So when several of these audio books were available at our library used book sale, I snapped them up for her.
We especially like to let these kids start with “Ferdinand”, the bull who likes to sit, just quietly, and smell the flowers.