Reluctant Readers

This catch-all term describes children with a range of problems that are commonly faced by parents and teachers today. But there can be a single solution. And it's one that specialist children's book retailers can provide with specialist title collections that are designed to bridge the gap between entrenched resistance to the written word and real enthusiasm for some of the truly exciting examples of children's literature currently available.Reluctant readers can often perform the mechanics of reading, but choose not to. They do not usually have learning difficulties. With TV in the bedroom, computer games and social networking sites, our offspring have plenty to keep them engaged and entertained. But computer games and TVs in bedrooms tempt children away from reading, from practising a skill that, once learned, goes on to shape their lives.Computer and TV screens may not be all that's keeping them from becoming good readers. Some children are just not interested in reading stories, or in reading anything at length. Even when they are older and have developed their reading skills, many children are still reluctant to read for very long. They might skim-read magazines or factual texts, or search for specific information on Web sites - and these abilities do represent important skills - but for children to engage fully with more meaningful content, their curiosity needs to be aroused at an early age, or they will have a handicap that will be almost impossible to overcome in later years.All the latest research confirms that intervening early with young readers who are not attracted to books is essential. It is important for the rest of their lives that they become fluent in reading. Choosing the right books is the key to success with reluctant readers.There is an incredibly rich choice of children's literature in a range of genres, from ancient myths to stories of modern life. The key issue is to make the books accessible, and help children find relevance in what they read.The trick is to pick something that will help them pursue something they are interested in. If they are interested in magic and folklore, dinosaurs and wildlife, space travel or fashion, there are many fascinating and well-illustrated factual books around - all potentially riveting readsAnd they do need to be riveting reads. Youngsters for whom reading is any kind of hard work are only going to make the effort if they feel the book is worth it. Specialist Reluctant Reader Collections have stories that are strong enough to keep the pages turning - even for youngsters who "can read but just don't want to".Many suppliers of books for schools recognise the time pressures that teachers are under and the lack of time to spend comparing and choosing the most suitable books covering a wide range of reading abilities and meeting the criteria of the National Curriculum and the National Literacy Strategy.Collections for reluctant readers include titles from both mainstream and specialist publishers, many from authors everyone is likely to recognise. Specialist publishers tend to focus on titles for readers whose reading age is lower than the interest age, which means that if you have a child who finds reading difficult, or one who isn't yet ready to cope with long books, or even one who simply doesn't latch on to the concept of books at all, you can try one of these. Each collection is labelled with its reading age and interest age. Some specialist publishers and authors are past masters at convincing reluctant readers that books can be cool. Typically, their books are short, sharp and intriguing - skilfully written and edited with page turnability uppermost in mind. The ultimate aim is to get every reluctant or struggling reader to take that first important step into enjoying the reading experience.When a reader is hooked on a story, reading ability is sure to improve. Children read more fluently because they want to! That's the reason book collections for reluctant readers have to provide fabulous stories.Retailers have thought long and hard about their collections and know that every one of the books selected provides a powerful and 'un-put-downable' narrative, even for the most reluctant reader. They save families and schools time and money by researching the best books with appealing themes and attractive covers for reluctant readers of all ages before putting them together in affordable book collections with generous discounts on published prices.