Harry Potter has thoroughly disarmed my reluctant reader. She's in fourth grade now, and I was starting to despair. A hint of progress came last year with Diary of A Wimpy Kid but I was anxious to get her into full-sized books with complete pages of text. My recommendations, selected from family faves, were shot down.
Enter Harry. I think seeing the movie this summer helped a lot, because it was such a big deal. Anna picked up the first book a bit later and worked her way through it, proudly updating me on her progress. When she finished that one, she immediately ran to find the second book. She read that one faster, and now she is on the third.
It has always been my policy to read the book first, watch the movie second. But in this case, I think the movies provided the context and familiarity with strange names and vocabulary she needed to succeed. It is exciting to see her progress through this increasingly challenging series. I hope she continues to the end.
Then maybe she'll try some other family favorites. Acchio, bibliophilia!
2 comments:
My Megan sounds just like your second child . . . I think having a mother and older sister who devour books for breakfast has been challenging for Megan. I have tried so hard to be patient while she reads picture book after picture book, and finally this summer i found her starting to read what I consider "real" books. :) Haven't yet convinced her to read Harry Potter, but I hope someday she will pick it up!
Keep it up sis!
Reading really does make a huge difference (I'm sure you know), and eventually us reluctant readers begin to enjoy it. Who knows? Maybe she'll end up like me someday and stand in front of a class saying, "There was a time where I didn't like reading either..."
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