GainesvilleMoms.com

As a writer, it pains me to say this, but my 3 year old has absolutely NO interest in books. I've tried and tried for months and YEARS, but she just has little desire for the printed word.

We have an entire set of bookshelves filled with books, and she never even looks at them.

Do any of you have suggestions? A book that got your kids interested in reading? Or at least looking at books, pretending to read?

Granted, I don't really read books anymore, either. Mostly comic books. But I want her to be ahead of curve when it comes to reading. Help!

take her to books a million. right in the middle of the store they usually have a whole isle of $1, $2 and $3 books. see if picking them out from the store sparks any interest...or maybe when the library has a character day, seeing the real live cifford or creature of her liking would help.

we always read at night and both of my kids would bring a book when they wanted some quiet alone time. it used to be really sweet, if i was too busy, he would turn to his sissy and they would climb up in my chair and read together. from the time he was born, she was required to read so much every night so she would eat up her required time by reading to him. i miss them like that!

Along softballmom's line of advice, try in book form whatever her other interests are, be it a TV show (Caillou, etc.) or otherwise (for Big A, it was dump trucks...I never imagined before Big A came along that there were actually books for kids about dump trucks, bull dozers, wheel loaders, back hoes, etc.) If there is a book about that, there's a book for everything! But the whole "TV in books" is what really snagged Big A's interest in reading, he was thrilled to be able to see some of his favorite buddies right there on his lap.

I feel your angst about your daughter not reading...I can't imagine a life without books! Reading can literally change your life. Hang in there, you'll find something that works for her.

Caeli was the same way. Since she is 7 and reading on her own, I really wanted to find a way to make it something that she wanted to do for fun and not just because she had to. She LOVES fairies and I actually found a book series called Rainbow Fairies. It has several different sets and she can read them in order...they aren't too long for her either. She actually loves reading now! She has already read 3 sections of the series (about 7 books each!) and when we went to the library, she picked up the Chronicles of Narnia! And she is reading that...I was floored!
Have you tried just letting her loose in the Downtown Library? My kiddos love that.

Thanks for the advice.

As weird as it sounds, I think the problem is that she is used to being surrounded by books. Since she could crawl, I have taken her to the library at least once a week. With this current heat wave, we go 2 or 3 times a week. And sometimes she will leaf through a book, but generally likes to use the computer stations to play educational games (which I have to encourage!)

We also go to book stores quite often. As for Books a Million, she just runs to the little train set they have and plays plays plays.

But I am not giving up. She WILL love reading, come hell or high water! lol

I'm not a mom but I can tell you that my brothers and I got a kick out of the book "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" when we were little. The whole concept of food falling out of the sky was pretty amazing to us. I also recall The Magic School Bus books being a big hit. The fact that these books are so visual and busy probably had something to do with the attraction.

Kids are great imitators, maybe if you show her how interesting books are to you she might pick up on your interest too. Good luck!

I have no advice other than to say just keeps books available to her at all times -- just like you are. She may not be interested now, but one day she will be, and she'll know right where to go to find any book she's looking for. Just keep exposing her to them -- you'll break her down.

My 4yr old loves the EZ readers. They cover any topic known to man.

My hubby has been reading them comics since they were babes. And the last time he bought comics, he let Hannah pick an age appropriate one. I think it was Looney Toons or something like that (without the boobs and blood).

Does she have a favorite character? Like Dora or Spongebob? If she does, try those books. And also, we love the Dr. Seuss. Your are not my mother....you are a snort

Do you have any picture books for her? Also, has she seen you sit down and read for a few minutes each day? Does she know how to hold a book correctly? When my oldest daughter was three we would play reading games and those games eventually lead to her getting hooked on reading. We would have a letter of the week and we would focus on that letter everyday. We would identify the sound that the letter makes and find things that made that sound then I would give her A coloring sheet of that letter as well. Hope this helps.

When my daughter was little, bedtime was when we would read books together.

She loved the Madeline series ("In an old house in Paris that is covered with vines, lived 12 little girls in two straight lines."), the Eloise books, Dr. Seuse, and Peter Rabbit.

I tried to get books that portrayed girls/characters being independent and adventurous.

Other times family and friends would gift her books that I had never heard of but would fascinate her (and me).

I would do the voices for the different characters and would break out in song with made-up lyrics if the book said the character loved music. Things like that.

I remember for awhile, her favorite book was a Sesame Street book ("The Monster at the End of This Book") with Grover. I wasn't great literature, but she loved it. I did a very bad Grover imitation, but she didn't care.

I think the trick is helping your child discover the nature of storytelling until she can find it for herself when she learns how to read.

Good luck,

here's a thought, don't push it on her...this is sound advice from the mother of a teenager who will fight whatever it is she thinks i want her to do!

if i want her to do something, i tell her to do the opposite...

what about limiting her computer time, tell her she gets 15 mins on the computer for each book she reads.

how old is she again?

she is 3 years old. There are a lot of good ideas here; Ill try to get her some Dora books, since she is such a big Dora fan these days.

Hey Nate, there are some great Dora books out there. My daughter has a small library of her own started. We play a little game whenever we read them. There is a display of some of the other Dora books on the back of each of her books, so when we are done reading we look at the back of the book and pick out which ones she has and which ones we still need to get. Good luck with her, I'm sure she will come around sooner or later. My 15 year old never really did come around to liking books until she was about 12 and discovered 'The Black Stallion' series. Since then she is an avid reader. She just likes stories in a series. She says she hates it when they end..