My mother instilled in me a love of reading that I always hoped to pass along to my children. Despite reading to him each night and providing a plethora of reading material, it seemed that my oldest son just wasn’t going to be a reader, not for pleasure anyway. Then, in his 8th year, it all changed.
Make Your Tween a Reader
I had purchased the first three Harry Potter books for him as a Christmas gift. While I hadn’t read them, one of my babysitters really enjoyed them and I was noticing that they were getting a lot of press, so I thought we should give them a try. He opened them and didn’t look impressed. I knew he had complained about his babysitter spending more time reading Harry Potter than playing with him, so maybe he resented the books for that. He set them aside and it seemed they would go unread.
Months later he came to me with the first book in his hand and said “You have to read this. It’s so good!” I complied and we fell in love with Harry Potter together. We awaited the release of each book with baited breath and bought two copies so that we wouldn’t have to take turns reading. His love of reading was born and stayed with him into adulthood.
All of my children have read some or all of the Harry Potter series, and they all value you at varying degrees. However, these are not the only books that can make your child a reader. Here are some books and series that my children enjoyed as tweens.
Book Series for Tweens
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan
- The Masterminds Series by Gordon Korman
- A Series of Unfortunate Events by Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
- Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
- The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
- His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
- The Dork Diaries by Rachel Renée RussellÂ
- The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson
- The 39 Clues Series – Author collaboration
Tips to Get Them Reading
It takes more than a great book to turn your tween into a reader. Teaching by example is always beneficial, but even non-readers can teach their kids to love books. Show an interest in their stories and the books they are reading. Reading a story to them or after them can encourage discussion about the books. It will become a bonding experience! In cases like many of the series listed here, they have been made into movies. Have a movie marathon after your child has read the books. This creates another bonding experience and will show your child that books are often more in depth and interesting than the movies made from them.
Do you have any suggestions to get your tween reading?
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