I was rather disappointed when none of my ten grandchildren liked any of my own childhood favourites, like Wind in the Willows, What Katy Did and Black Beauty. They nearly all love fantasy, especially Terry Pratchett books, and The Hitchhiker's Guide, plus the usual C.S. Lewis.
When they were little, it was The Tiger who came to Tea,The Big Hungry Caterpillar,and the Spot books, which my little great-grandchildren now like, as well as spin-offs from their favourite TV programmes, like Peppa Pig.
As a former Head of a large Remedial Service, can I encourage everyone to start reading and saying poetry to your grandchildren long before they can understand the words. They will enjoy the cadence of the words and it is a great way to get close to them.
Don't stop reading to them when they can read on their own - it is a great shame that the art of oral story-telling has almost died out. Some stories can be quite scary for a ten-year old, and it is comforting to have them read by an adult - especially one who doesn't mind doing all the voices and stressing the exciting bits!
I could get very good behaviour out of my bottom-set 15-year old boys by promising a chapter of Roald Dahl if they were good. 'The Witches' was favourite - I think it is good to give children a bit of anarchy from time to time.
I was often asked the best way to teach reading - and I had to reply that there isn't a simple answer. Some children will learn by the look of the word, some by the sound, others by building up words from letters or syllables - we used many different approaches. I am afraid the single biggest determining factor in academic success is still parental education, earnings, and involvement. Pre-reading experiences, in the shape of handling books, having stories told to them, painting, drawing, jig-saws,
etc. will all help.
Dyslexia is now much more often picked up - my grandson was just told he was stupid and it was years later when he told his mother 'the words won't stand still on the page'. There are now strategies for coping with this condition so if you find your grandchild will look at the same word on consecutive lines and say them differently, it might be worth asking for some tests to be done.
I know we have many retired or working teachers on Gransnet, so perhaps we could have a thread on helping children to enjoy reading, with your experiences. I don't want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs!
