BeTween the Pages: What if Your Tween Isn’t a Reader?

(Image credit - What a Great Book)

Has it been difficult to get your tween daughter interested in reading?

In most schools, there is required reading time, with goals to meet. If she’s got to read, you might as well find ways to get her to enjoy books. I’ve always loved to read — I was the nerdy girl who spent weekends hanging out at bookstores or the library. When I was a tween, I would much rather be immersed in a book than out with friends. Hmmm, definitely sounds like a nerd, huh? But your daughter doesn’t need to be a nerd to enjoy a great book!

If you’re looking for ways to get your tween more interested in discovering a love for books, we’ve got some tips for you here. She’s eventually going to have to enjoy reading at some point in her life, so get her started now!

1. Discover books that are of interest to her — does she love softball, American Girl dolls, or is she fascinated with fashion or the ocean? Does she love art or music? Finding books about the hobbies that she is passionate about will kick-start a passion for reading. Even if she’s a fan of a Disney-channel star, there are biography books or fan club books you can introduce her to. Likewise, you can find fiction that introduces her to characters that share the same hobbies she may have. Find books with young girls who want to be rock stars, fashionistas, softball players, scientists… anything to get her to open a book and read the words will get her interested.

2. Suggest she and her girlfriends choose a fun book and that they start their own book club. Of course, this should be complete with snacks and fun drinks. Set an end date for the girls to finish their book and host an evening for them to come together to chat about the book. Authors like Lauren Myracle, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Judy Blume (old-school but this would be a great one to include the moms in the reading too!) and Sarah Dessen (a great author for more mature tween readers) would be awesome starters for your tween book club!

3. Take your daughter to the book store for a day of exploring. Grab yourself a coffee, a cookie and a cold drink for her and start browsing. Suggest books for her that you think she might enjoy and let her find some of her own. She might surprise you with her selections! Spend the day sharing and collecting a bunch of books you both might like and then let her pick a few to take home. If she’s invested time in the search to really look for books she might enjoy, chances are she will actually read them.

4. If she really has a hard time reading books and focusing on the content, consider letting her ‘read’ from a Kindle by letting it ‘read’ the words to her. This is what I did for my daughter when she was struggling with a required book in school. And after the Kindle read to her for a while (and she followed along with her eyes) reading became a bit easier and now she’ll sometimes switch from reading a book, to listening to a book. I’m OK with this trade-off because to me, she is still ‘reading’ and discovering new authors and books.

There are many ways to entice your tween into finding great books to read. It could take a while, but with such wonderful authors and books out there, she’d be missing out if she didn’t start discovering a love for literature right now. Help her navigate her way through finding amazing authors and books that she’ll come to know and love.

About the Author:

Stephanie Elliot, in no particular order, is a wife, writer, blogger, book reviewer, editor and mother to three kids, two who have already been tweens, and one who is right smack in the middle of his tween-ness. Her oldest son is almost driving and her daughter survived her tween years so Stephanie must be doing something right. Find out more at stephanieelliot.com.