I had a son who did not want to read... til, I started talkiing about all the cool places I'd been and the interestng people I met. He became curious everytime, I'd stop reading and make statements like" Boy, the beach was fun", or " I just love listening to Gramma Missy talk. Once, he was interested, I explained how I could go anywhere during anytime and meet anyone I wanted... just by opening a book. His older brothers were reading Harry Potter at the time and started imitating me and bragging about all the cool things they could do. It didn'ttake long and he was hooked. He didn't start reading well until he was about 9, but he was quickly on college level once he started.

Unfortunately, School seems to drill the love of everything out of kids. It's so much easier to learn things when you are excited about it.

You and I need to talk more. I read a few posts and all I have to say is... It's a shame that she hasn't been more impressed with reading. If she is into non-fictional books, then perhaps some of my old encyclopedias may spark her interest. I have TONS of books that I used to pour over about animals... And you may see about getting her some wildlife magazines, those used to be some of my favorites to read. Look for things that may spark her interest. If she likes animals, look for books that involve animals. When I was about her age, one of the books that I sat down with and literally couldn't close the book was "Where the Red Fern Grows". Sit down and read with her... Make it something enjoyable and emerse yourself in the book as well.

I wish I were closer to you these days! I was in a program to help younger children with their reading skills throughout school. I'd love to sit down with her with a few of my favorites...

Here's what worked with my daughter. I made sure she had a good reading light by her bed. Bedtime is at 7:00. She has the option to read in bed or go to sleep. Period. Lights out at 8-8:30. I'm not mean about it, it's not punishment, it's just what we do in our family. We read in bed and we don't date until we're 16. "That's what we do in our family" I say in a matter-of-fact voice.

I can't imagine any child preferring to turn out the light and lie there in the dark instead of read. (If she does, great, she obviously needs the rest and I need an hour of quiet time.) This gives her an hour to an hour and a half of daily reading, with no nagging, bribing, persuading, or bargaining from me. I don't ever want to set myself up as an adversary.

We go into town once or twice a week to go to the library. She picks out books with pretty covers about cats. I pick out books I think she'd like or books I read at her age. (I was a precocious reader because my mom made me go to bed early too.)

Another benefit of this is she's sleeping much better. Lying in bed reading is a great way to relax and let a little body calm down after a busy day.

If she thinks she doesn't like The Borrowers because there's no picture on the cover, fine. I start reading it to her while we snuggle together. When it gets to an interesting or exciting passage, I start yawning and tell her we'll read more tomorrow. Usually she'll beg me to let her read it on her own. I reluctantly () agree.

My daughter is reading two full grade levels ahead because she "practices" reading for an hour/hour and a half every day. She loves reading now. And I love having that hour of quiet time every night with my husband. That's what we do in our family.

My daughter never did enjoy reading, and I did EVERYtHING!

She still doesn't like to read, but ate age 17-18 she started WRITING stories to share with her friends! You see, she is an extrovert, and reading (I think) was not social enough for her!

So, she still writes stories, and she has joined a writers workshop at the library. I think the only reading she does is what her friends write. This kid is really one of a kind!

I don't know why no one on here has asked this yet including myself-

Have you asked her why she doesn't like to read?

For most children the motivation to do something is based on two things-

their expectation of success x the value they believe they will get from doing it= motivation

both of these can be graded on a 10 pt. (0 low- 10 high) scale if either one is 0 then motivation will = 0% if both are 10 then motivation will = 100%.

Most likely there is a combination which makes her motivation low, maybe she is not as fast a reader as she would like to be (5/10) AND she doesn't see any real value in reading because she doesn't get good grades (2/10) total motivation = 10%

I know this post turned into a math lesson LOL but its the basic idea-- you have to ask and pay attention to figure out what is hurting her motivation. You cant fix her motivation to read until you understand what is hurting it.

remember that we all do everything in life based on motivation. even if it is something we do not like (like taking out the trash) we can still be motivated to do it because its something we have to do to take care of those around us, keep our house clean, or even receive the thanks of a spouse.

hope this made sense.

KINDLE...bought my dd one for her 12th birthday and told her she could go pick some books to download, after I approved them as "content" appropriate. She's 13 now and read the "Hunger Games" trilogy in 1 week! Now I have to limit her purchases to 3 a month and gifts! Another great book is "Michael Vey-Prisoner of Cell 23." I also bought my dd a subscription to "American Girl" magazine and she loved it. She isn't a "doll" person at all, but loved the crafts, decorating, & sleep-over ideas articles in it. Maybe a subscription to Nat Geo?

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Pro Libertate!

My dad was an English teacher. Here's something he did in a low-achieving class in the middle of a desperately poor urban area: he had them write about anything they wanted for the first 5 minutes of each class.

That's it. No more, no less. No restrictions on what they could write. He read everything each night and never used a red marker. He'd jot encouraging notes, but for this daily assignment, which he called timed writing, he never had any criticisms regarding grammar, syntax, spelling, whatever.

The results were mind blowing. At first people might write nothing but their name on the paper (and that was fine with him). Yet by the end of the year, even the "worst" students wrote at least a paragraph and often half a page or more.

I know you asked about reading, not writing. This will help her reading, I promise. Bonus points for asking her to read it to you.

I had the same issue with my daughter - very intelligent, she just didn't like to read. But we read aloud - as in - MOM read the book to the kids while they either listened quietly, or for the tactile ones, played legos, built blocks; one embroidered.

Sure enough, about age 14, she decided she didn't want to wait until Mom got to the next chapter, and started reading herself.

I did not push her AT ALL to read fiction as an enjoyable hobby; but what she loved was time together as a family reading. She read what she had to for science, history, etc., but just didn't like to read on her own.

One of my other daughters was never without a book or two, and she still loved the family reading time. In fact, the last book we read together was Call of the Wild (Jack London) and stopped our read aloud times when college schedules of the oldest two just didn't mess with senior year sports for the youngest!!!

And now, that same daughter who would not read, at age 22, she and her husband read to each other....how cool is that??

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I am a grades 4-8 remediation teacher, and my focus is on reading fluency and comprehension. 75% of what a child reads should be non fiction. So, if that is what she likes to read, that is what she should be reading. Also, let her pick the books she reads. I am not a fan of reading something because "it's a classic." If she likes horses, there is a great series out that I read at her age called Thoroughbred. It has about 30 books in the series. I was not a reader at her age either. However, with this series, I would ask for these books as gifts.