My son used the words "I hate to read!", yet we found a book he loves to read.

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I was not a big advocate of reading, everybody read on their own and on their own time. I thought, "well they are great in Math and science, and doing ok in language arts, I do not need to make a reading time". Boy was I wrong. I have 5 children, ages 14, 12, 11, 8, and 6. My youngest son is in school all day, since I have free time, I got involved in the School Site Council, PTO, Gate Advisory Committee, etc. I have learned soo much about the importance of reading and how much more it can affect their grades in a whole.

I have started setting a side an  hour for everyone to read. Easy done right, No it wasn't! My 12 yr old son was pacing, distracting the others and decided to get another book, a 5th grader picture book. Well at least he was reading.  But after a couple of minutes got upset and blurted out "I HATE TO READ!", I was in shock, but I still persisted. It is easier to give up and let him hate reading, or I will have to do some research on what kinds of books might interest him. I found out that series are the key. If they like the first book, there is a second and a third and so on. 

There was a movie coming out in the theaters called The Lightning Thief, I found out that the movie is based on a book and YES, I comes in series. He was so excited to see the movie, but before hand I told him he had to read the book. He could not wait to read the book. An excitement that shocked me. I immediately went to purchase the paperback book called Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1:The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan.  He read that book in one week and 4 days. He spent every free time to reading the book, and along the way he would tell me with excitement what was going on. Once he finished reading the book, we all went to watch the movie. He now realizes that the book is better than the movie, but still loved the movie.  He started reading the second book called The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan, and already half way through.

There are a total of 5 books to this series and not only is he wanting to read, his grades are improving in some areas, and he is able to comprehend better. If you are interested in these books, you can check the website  www.rickriordan.com .

And as a note, Don't give up, you will eventually find a book he likes, even if he hates to read.