Anonymous wrote:May I ask if she’s been taught to read with a notecard? She can use it to block some of the text on the page, but keeping the edge off the card above or below the line she’s currently reading. This may enable her to read wordier books. My apologies if she already knows this truck.

-former teacher

I gave her one of those line highlighters and she said it really has helped because it blocked out everything above and below the line she’s reading. I also think we’ll spend a bit of time each session taking turns reading aloud to try different books.

Oh, didn’t realize you were the tutor. I’m sure you’ve already taught her that.

May I ask if she’s been taught to read with a notecard? She can use it to block some of the text on the page, but keeping the edge off the card above or below the line she’s currently reading. This may enable her to read wordier books. My apologies if she already knows this truck.

-former teacher

Thanks everyone. The student I am tutoring is perfectly happy reading just graphic novels. I think her mom sees what other students in the class read (chapter books) and she worries that she is "behind" them. She tests on grade level but many students attend pre-first (it's a Baltimore private school thing) so they are a year or more older and had a whole extra grade in school than she did.

So far, she has enjoyed the shorter chapters of the Choose Your Own Adventure series (my fav as a kid). She's going on vacation soon so I'll check out some suggestions here.

What about magazines? They provide short articles material tailored to specific interests, and there are all kinds of magazines for all kinds of interests.

Sideways stories from wayside school! Chapters are max 3-4 pages.

In addition to the Dav Pilkey books, my reluctant reader has sometimes enjoyed Mercy Watson—a picture book/chapter book hybrid.

Anonymous wrote:I posted my suggestions earlier, but it occurs to me you might want to consider moving this thread to the Elementary School-Aged Kids forum. The Book Club forum attracts posters who love books, and may not have been much considered with length or complexity in the books we read as children. I’ve seen more than one thread there about how to transition kids into reading material beyond graphic novels.

I meant to say I’ve seen more than one thread in the Elementary forum about moving kids beyond graphic novels.

I posted my suggestions earlier, but it occurs to me you might want to consider moving this thread to the Elementary School-Aged Kids forum. The Book Club forum attracts posters who love books, and may not have been much considered with length or complexity in the books we read as children. I’ve seen more than one thread there about how to transition kids into reading material beyond graphic novels.

If you’re not attached to fiction, there’s a lot of good kids nonfiction that isn’t super long or isn’t meant to be read cover to cover. Weird But True, joke/riddle books, any of the DK / Smithsonian / National Geographic books on a topic of interest. The Who Would Win books are still popular at that age, as are the Who Was biographies.