Encouraging Reading for Pleasure

Recently my eldest son Toby, who was always the one who didn't take to reading became reluctant to read chunkier more challenging books again. This wasn't new to me as encouraging Toby to read for pleasure was the main reason I began Bring a Book to Life. He's a competent reader but I think with the way things are in the modern world, (how old do I sound?!), have meant that he wants immediate results form stories and doesn't always have the patience to persevere. In January I launched the Dyslexia Friendly monthly box which I have now renamed 'Reluctant Reader'. These boxes include books from the amazing publisher Barrington Stoke. They specialise in publishing books with high level content by big name authors along with shorter reads. The books are printed on quality, thick, cream paper which is perfect for children who struggle with visual stress along with a font that is sans serif and has more generous spacing than standard chapter books. This helps with the words jumping around the page element you may have heard that children with dyslexic tendencies tend to complain of. Please see the image gallery for examples.

It struck me that actually Toby, who isn't dyslexic, may benefit from these books. Bingo, he has absolutely loved them. He began by sampling one of the Ready Player One boxes, which has an amazing set of virtual reality goggles along with a wonderful letter from the author and some other gaming bits. He devoured the book, told his cousin all about it and then read the following two books in the series immediately afterwards. He seemed keen on picking up a book again which was so brilliant! It occurred to me that hooking my children on reading wasn't just going to be a one time thing and with Toby certainly I need to keep plugging away. He wanted to become involved in the formulation of our most recent Reluctant Reader box, which is available to purchase now, and helped source the items for this box after he'd read the book! Take a little look at how the finished looks and if you like it I'll let him know it's gone down well!!

Here's the link to the product if you're interested in purchasing one!

As children grow it is common to see reading drop off around the age of 8 and recent research shows that many children lose interest once the emphasis becomes more on independent reading and less on sharing a book or reading with an adult. It's so important for children to continue their reading journey, and hopefully Bring a Book to Life boxes help with this transition.

Here are some of our other shorter read boxes that may be of interest.

Head over to the website to find out a little more about each one: