Dear SARA,
My daughter is 12 years old and wants to enroll in our library’s Summer Reading Program. I’m excited that she wants to read at all, but she’s asking me what books she should read. I pick some out for her and she doesn’t like them, and I just don’t really know what she should be reading. I don’t want her to lose interest and not participate in the summer reading program. Can you give me some tips on what kinds of books she might enjoy?
Sincerely,
Hanging-on-for-dear-life-through-the-tween-years
Dear Bibliophile,
First off: joining a summer reading program, like those offered at local libraries, is a great way to get into reading! They often offer ways to track what books your child has read, how many they’ve read and what genres. They also offer enrichment programs that put the fun into summer reading.
While every child is different and so their preferences for books are going to be really specific to them, I can offer some general advice on how to pick books that your kid might like to read this summer.
Focus on their interests.
There really is a book out there for everyone. If your children are interested in baseball, find them books on sports. If they like insects, find them books on insects. And this doesn’t have to be restricted to nonfiction either! There are lots of fiction books that integrate a variety of subject matter. Find your child’s lane and encourage them to exceed the speed limit in it!
Find the right reading level.
You can start by asking your child’s teacher what reading level they are at, but if you are still uncertain, or want to check yourself, try the five-finger rule with any book that you think your child might be interested in. Select a page from a book and have your child read it, or you can read it to them. Every time they hear or read a word they don’t know, they raise a finger. If they get to five fingers before they reach the bottom of the page, then the book is too difficult. If they haven’t raised any fingers, then it is too easy. You’re looking for that sweet spot of 1-3 fingers raised. This way, your children are choosing books that are challenging and improve their vocabulary, but they are not attempting to read books that are too advanced and may therefore discourage them from reading any more books in the future.
Encourage them to try different forms and genres.
Often, children and young adolescents have a fairly limited view of what a “book” can look like. Part of this is because they are, well, young and so haven’t had a lot of time to see just how many different iterations of stories are out there in the world! Part of it also has to do with the requirements of the public education system that keep students aligned with testing standards and so only assign and teach books that will allow students to execute those standards. This, itself, is a rabbit hole that we can’t fall in today (back to you, Alice) but the point is that outside of school, your children should be scientists in the literary world! Reading the same kind of book over and over again is boring and can lead your children to believe that there is only one kind of story out there. Wrong. Here are just a few of the types of books that are “unconventional” and could therefore be appealing to your children, age and interests of course taken into consideration as well:
Novels-in-verse: These are a fantastic introduction to poetry, especially for those who are hesitant about the genre (hello, I was also one of these and now I love to read poetry!) They also function in bite-size narratives that can be appealing to children who have short attention spans or who aren’t accustomed to reading for long periods of time yet.
Graphic Novels: Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard your children’s teachers lament over these, but they have their place. Should your children exclusively read these? Probably not. But, they are, again, a great avenue into reading and can often entice reluctant readers into learning narrative structure and character, setting and plot development which are some of the building blocks of stories! Make sure that you choose challenging graphic novels. As with everything, there are great ones and some… less great ones out there.
Short Story and Essay Collections: Yes, they make these for children and young readers! Absolutely! And yes, young readers can benefit from being exposed to them early on. These genres are excellent at teaching readers how to interpret the world around them and this becomes especially important for those early adolescent readers out there.
If you would like more specific books for your child, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll be happy to provide you with book recommendations.
If your child still doesn’t enjoy any of our recommendations: when in doubt, ask your librarian! They are superheroes!
Keep reading!
Sincerely,
SARA