It seems to me there are two kinds of kids in the world. There’s kids who love reading. And there’s kids who haven’t cracked the code yet.
The kids who love reading are off in search of their next great chapter book series. You can tell them by the intent looks on their faces in the bookstores. Or by how they bury their faces in books and only come up for air and to eat.
The other group? Some are busy on the computer. Computer games. Computer chat. Facebook, myspace…some social set. Hey at least that’s reading. Then there are the kids who are truly reluctant readers – the ones who may have fluency problems, or attention disorders, or dyslexia, or some other eye to brain processing impairment.
What I’ve found with a whole bunch of the kids who are not passionate readers is that they really struggle with a page full of words. There is something daunting – something unfriendly – something downright nasty about the thought of sitting down to crack that code of letters and sounds and words.
When we designed the DaVinchy Chapter Book Series we did so knowing that these kids needed to be coaxed into a book. These non-reading kids are the same kids who love computer games. So we knew color pictures were required. These are the same kids who can’t sit still – so at the very least we knew we needed the books to be about action and adventure. These are the same kids who love giggling and fun and want their books to reflect this and bring them up – not forcefeed them black and white squiggles on a page that hurt their heads.
If you talk to the folks charged with teaching your kids to read, they will be able to precisely diagnose a reading processing problem if one exists. But in the meantime, plunk em down in front of the free DaVinchy Chapter Series book (book 1, Cat’s Claw). See if they get a smile on their face as they read it by themselves, or as you read it to them.
Sometimes it’s just that simple to get started.