Blogging A to Z: Be Open To Repeat Reading

I loved reading the American Girl books when I was a kid. I didn’t have all of them, so it was often that I’d pick up one of my favorites to read at night before bed. There were some I read over and over again and I loved them every time.

There’s nothing wrong with rereading books. Kids find comfort in rereading a favorite story. It’s similar to watching the same movie, listening to the same song, or playing the same game. Rereading builds confidence and increases comprehension skills. And in fact, a study has shown that kids hearing the same word in the same setting helps them learn it better than seeing it in different settings. But, that’s not the point of rereading books.

Read-Alikes

The point of rereading is that the story is fun and that kids are enjoying themselves. I wouldn’t be super worried if your child is picking up Diary of a Wimpy Kid for the 10th time. The point is that they’re reading. But, what you can do is offer read-alike suggestions. Read-alikes are books that have a similar style or format to your child’s favorite. These are easy to find online – bloggers and librarians have plenty of lists filled with read-alike suggestions.

In fact, I have a number of read-alike lists on my blog including Magic Treehouse read alikes and Dog Man read alikes. And if they pick another book up, that’s great, and if they don’t that’s okay to, because eventually they’ll find something else they love just as much and as for now, they’re still reading!

For the month of April, I’ll be sharing tips for reaching reluctant readers as part of the Blogging A to Z Challenge. There are dozens of reasons why a child might be considered a “reluctant reader.” As summer nears, continued reading practice helps students to keep the reading skills they learned while reading for fun. But, that’s not easy when a child doesn’t want to sit down and read. I’ll be sharing 26 tips to meet reluctant readers where they are. And hopefully find a way to make reading bearable, if not even something they want to do!