1. Lead by example, let your child see you reading and enjoying the experience.
2. Know what interests them, sport, dogs, humour, adventure, get books on these subjects.
3. Let them choose their own books but steer them in the right direction.
4. Try books with short stories on subjects they might find interesting such as Spies, Ghosts, War, Humour etc
5. Leave joke books lying around, anything that gets them reading.
6. Boys particularly love non-fiction. Choose books with good quality photographs.
7. Non Fiction books with text broken up into small pockets, they can get through a lot of reading without realising it.
8. Graphic books, appear easy but in fact require a high level of skill to link the text and pictures.
9. Series books. Children can get hooked into a series and will read nothing else, encourage and gently nudge them on to similar books, not part of a series.
10. Comics might motivate your child enough to get them started.
11. Read to your child, only one chapter each night, if they are “hooked” on the story they will want to read on when you’ve finished.
12. Build stamina, keep moving your child on to more challenging books.
13. Talk about the books they’ve read or their favourite author.
14. Market books . Use ploys, try telling them a particular book is unsuitable, they’ll knock you over to get their hands on it.
15. Books with larger print and illustrations are not as daunting.
16. Movie books, if you know a particular movie is coming out try to read the book in advance
17. Choose well written books by established authors, a good starting point is award winners.
18. Pick simpler books that they can manage easily, they get great satisfaction from finishing a book.
19. Do not put pressure on them, you wouldn’t like someone constantly asking you what you’re reading or how you’re getting on with a particular book.
20. Praise them, when they’ve earned it, when they have completed a book.
