Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My ‘Boy’ Reading Experiment

I’ve tried for quite some years to motivate my teenaged boy to read books. Even to the extent of writing most of my books in male POV because at least he’d read mine. But this season I’ve branched out. I’ve found several books that my son just couldn’t put down. However, the trick was to get him to pick it up in the first place.

So here’s what I did.

FIND OUT WHAT THEY LOVE TO WATCH

I started watching more TV with my son. From Jersey Shore to Furious Five and finally onto his Zombie obsession with the Walking Dead.

This season though, he was a little ticked off with the Walking dead because he said it was getting – (what’s that horrible word parents hate to hear from their kid?) BORING!

So from my blog visiting activities I found and loved reading a book called ‘Rot and Ruin’ by Jonathan Maberry . I even sent it to my nephew who grabbed me when he saw me to tell me he loved the book I sent.

THE SET UP

So, my husband is an avid reader of scifi and graphic comics. I purchased the book for his Ipad and asked him to read it, then propose to our son to read it with him.
Now my husband pulled this off effortlessly by reading during an episode of Walking Dead and gushing about the book to my son. About how it was better than the show. Then he handed my son his reader during a commercial break.

My son didn’t stop reading the book. The kid read all 400 pages in 5 days!!!!

AFTER THE ENGULFING

After the read the book, they were chatting about it, trying to figure out what was happening with this character or the next.

Then they asked – is there any other books by this guy? Well of course!(this is where series work well) I purchased book 2 in the series ‘Dust and Decay’ and they are eating that up right as we speak.

WHAT SUCKED THEM IN

The characters ‘acted’ like real guys. Sure my son got ticked off at the stupidity of the main character, but the suspense, action, and dialogue he said kept him wanting to read more.

SO, GIVE THIS READING EXPERIMENT A TRY …

4 comments:

S.A. Larsenッ said...

You said it in your first comment: The trick is to get him to choose it for himself. Not that's parenting wisdom. :)

E. Arroyo said...

On my list. =) Thanks!

Catherine Stine said...

Yes, boys are hard-sells to books, at least for a while. My sons loved Captain Underpants and The Teacher from the Black Lagoon when they were young. They also liked Bruce Covile's books with titles like The Teacher from Outer Space Ate my Gym Socks (or some variation of this). Now, I'm happy to say, they'll read almost anything! But when they were small--funny and gross won the prize.

Unknown said...

That is super cool! Way to get your boy reading. I'm so proud that you brought the gift of words to him. That was a clever idea thinking of what TV shows he likes and gearing books toward them.

*gives you a high five*

*Slap*