Eli doesn't like to read very much; in fact it's been a real struggle for him to date. He's not really at the level he "should" be, so what's at his reading level is not his interest level. It's difficult to find books that he's interested in that are not too hard for him.
Cue my sister and her husband. They had given Eli a whole stack of books last year that Josh had gotten from where he works. They are short, less than ten chapters, they were written back in the '50's or 60's I'd say, about two boys and their mystery adventures. The things that just happen to them as they are hanging out, riding bikes, or playing with the dog. Sort of like the pre-curser to the Hardy Boys at a second/third grade level.
Well we tried Eli reading one last year. Total fail. But I had hope. He will love to read someday. He will. Right? I put them on the shelf to try again later.
We tried again last week. Eli read the first two chapters and didn't whine about it, he seemed to almost like it. I didn't hold my breath. The next day we read two more chapters. The story was getting good. I love mysteries!
The next day I talked about how I wanted to find out who the bad guy was and how I was so interested to see how it ended. Eli joined right in with me and wanted to know if we'd have time to read that night. We'll make time son, we'll make time!
That day he started to read chapter five and when he got to the end he asked if he could read the next one. By all means! Then at chapter seven he was flipping back to see how much was left and, could he read it too? Of course! Then there was just one chapter left titled "The Mystery is Solved." We couldn't be left hanging! He finished the book. He really liked it.
We put it back on the shelf and picked another "Tom and Ricky" book to start. Chapter one is done with it already, he read it to Noah. They are just right for him this year so I want to help him plow though them to help his reading fluency.
Oh, this may just be the break we were looking for!
4 comments:
YEAH!!!! I know exactly how you feel! Mike has been the same way until my mom found Diary of a Whimpy kid at a garage sale and then suddenly it all clicked! In the past few weeks I have found him a few times during the day laying on his bed with his nose in a book!! There were days I thought we would never make it here, like I was banging my head against a wall. But finally he is off and running or i should say reading! It is a great thing to see. I hope Eli continues to like reading. In no time Mike and Eli will be reading everything! It is a great feeling! Keep up the good work!!
That's awesome! I had chills reading this! What an exciting time for him! When he's ready for the Magic Tree House series, let us know--we have 'em all!
Awesome!! I'll Josh know that those books are doing some good!
Happy Reading, Eli!!
Thanks for the encouragement ladies! I have known all along that this would be a pivotal year for him, and I was just hoping to pivot in the right direction, and if this is the start of it, we're going to be okay.
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