Talking About Books That Children Find Challenging to Read

Role of a children's book club in enabling a young reader to better tackle these books.

Every avid reader must have come across a book that was hard to get through for some reason. It is an integral part of the reading journey. It sometimes creates a lull in one's reading space, a sense of void even. Somehow this is a subject that is less likely to be broached amongst children. We like to show children, as adults, that we read cover to cover. We don't abandon books ever. Is that true? Have you, dear reader, read every book from cover to cover?

At the Young Readers' Club, this subject got gently broached.

When a book is challenging to read...what must a young reader do?

Solving that problem meant we had to discuss what causes it in the first place.

What makes a book challenging for a young reader? - all the children contributed based on their own reading experiences

- Difficult to understand what is going on. Characters, situations and events are getting introduced all at once- very hard to understand who is who.

- Without illustrations, it becomes difficult to relate to the characters and the story (suggests, the child is not ready for advanced books yet)

- Story starts in the middle and goes to the end and back to the beginning (advanced readers appreciate this style better. A child who feels this way isn't ready yet for this book)

- Not in the mood for a particular book

- Same author's books sometimes don't meet expectations

- Reaction/feeling as a reader in response - Frustration, disappointment after being eagerly waiting to read a particular book.

What happens when peers are reading and raving a book that one finds it hard to read?

One of the suggestions that came up in response to this question was to ask the peers what they found interesting in a given book. Another suggestion that came up was asking the peers about their reading experiences and if they faced similar issues.

Interestingly, none of the young readers suggested abandoning a book. They only thought of workarounds to help ease the challenge. When asked what makes them so keen on easing the challenge rather than choose to abandon a book, they explained that a lot of work goes into writing a book. "The author deserves respect!"

Credit goes to all the amazing children's book authors who have made reading a magical experience for many children. :)

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