How to Get Kids to Read: Reading Strategies for Reluctant Readers

As middle schoolers adjust to increased workloads, manage sports practices and extracurriculars, and become more independent, they may be reluctant to give up free time to read a book. Asking your student to put down their phone or device and read may not be the most effective strategy.

Why Is My Middle Schooler Avoiding Reading?

Your child comes home from school and jumps right into an hour of watching videos about their favorite topic. You would like them to read a book instead, even if it were for only 15 minutes. Students who choose not to read do not necessarily dislike reading. They may be facing other issues that make reading less enjoyable. Ask your child why they do not want to read. Is it because they don’t know what to read? Do they only associate reading with schoolwork? Have they experienced difficulty understanding what they read? Finding the answers to these questions will help you guide and motivate your child toward wanting to read.

Let Your Child Choose What to Read

Plan a trip to the library with your child. Share with them that this is an opportunity to explore reading options and that there is no assignment attached to the trip. Show students that reading magazines, biographies, and graphic novels are all great options in addition to fiction books. Let your student choose what interests them and the type of media they want to read.

Make Reading Part of Everyday Life

Encourage your child to read every day, but present it in a way that doesn’t feel like another task or chore. Students can develop a habit of reading if they read consistently every day. As parents, you can model reading by setting aside 10–15 minutes a day to read with your student. Always have reading materials available at home or offer to take your child to the library as needed. The goal is to show students that reading is not a punishment but rather an enjoyable part of our day that we want to look forward to.

Here are a few strategies and activities to boost engagement with your child:

• Think-Aloud

• Dialogic Read-Aloud

• Visualizing

• Jigsaw Reading

• Create a Text Set

• Reader’s Theater

• Word Maps

• Silent Conversation

• Round Table

• Realia

• Timelines and Maps

Make Reading Social and Relevant

Students love to do what other middle schoolers are doing. Have your student ask friends what they are reading or what interests them. Students can swap books with friends, join or create a book club, participate in the library reading program, read about topics that interest them the most, and discuss what they have read with you at the dinner table. Instead of quizzing them, consider asking them for a recommendation or review of the book. What would they say to a friend?

When Reluctance May Signal a Reading Difficulty

Have you found that your student is still refusing to read? There may be an underlying factor, such as difficulty with decoding, fluency, vocabulary, or comprehension. If this is a concern for you, speak to your child’s English/Language Arts teacher about the difficulties you have noticed.

Focus on Progress, Not Pages

Helping your middle schooler find what they enjoy reading is the first step. It may not be a book but rather an article about a topic that interests them or an audiobook. And that’s okay! Continue to ask them what their interests are and celebrate with them when they finish reading an article or novel. Continue working toward the goal of helping your child see that reading is something they choose to do, not something you tell them to do.