How To Help Your Child Fall In Love with Reading: One Proven Strategy

Does your child know how to read but lacks the motivation to do so? Let me share one proven way to spark your child’s love for reading. You see, the problem doesn’t lie with your kiddo; it’s rather … the books. To him, they are boring. Because if they weren’t, your child would be reading. So, what a mom to do?

Start by closely observing your child’s interests. What toys does she like to play with (for younger kids)? What role models does she like watching on TV (including cartoons) or social media (for older kids)?

Once you have these insights:

Find book series with similar characters that are age-appropriate to your child.

Let me unpack this for you:

1. Discover inspiring characters: Identify characters that excite your child. For boys, it could be talking cars, robots, superheroes, animals, and more. For girls, it might be the same or range from princesses to rebellious heroines and unicorns. Find your child’s true wacky passions.

2. Explore book series: Once you figure out what your kid is into, find a book series featuring similar protagonists. Why a series? Because one book won’t be enough. Kids would love it so much, they
will keep asking for more! And you’ll be counting the hours they spend on reading!

3.  Ensure age appropriateness: Your chosen book series must align with your child’s age. Strike a balance – not too challenging, not too simple. For younger readers, ample illustrations on every page are crucial! Too much text without images will scare a child away! Even older children appreciate occasional illustrations.

From a young age, both my children fell in love with series like Unicorn and Own Diaries series. These books became such favourites that I even bought them in French (their second language) to boost their reading skills in a foreign language. Since then, they devoured a variety of series like Captain Underpants, Dragon Masters, Olga (Olgamus) series, Babysitters Club, and many more. An added benefit: both kids are now reading a grade level above!

But it wasn’t like that until I made this series discovery. Many books were hit-and-miss.

How to find such book series

Conduct online research on popular book series. Look them up on Amazon, explore book previews, and look at Amazon’s recommendations for similar genres (usually found on the book’s page when you scroll down). Find something that will resonate with your child.

Finally, you can purchase these books, or simply borrow them from a library. Experiment with your child and see what he likes.

Joyful reading everyone!

My kids’ recommended list:
Ages 5-7
-Owl Diaries
-Unicorn Diaries
-Diaries of a Pub
-Captain Underpants
-Dragon Masters
-Anything by Robert Munsch!

Ages 7-11
-Olga (Olgamus)
-Babysitters club
-Dork Diaries
-Nate
-Smile, Sisters, and Guts

More Tips: How to entice your readers to read over the holidays. Read here.