Home › For kids who won't read

For the kid who'd rather do anything else

We've found a fast win beats a "better" book every time. Finished books build confidence, and confidence builds readers — so everything here is short, starts quickly, and pays off before a reluctant reader can bail. And when the books are free anyway, you can afford to guess wrong: just hand them the next one.

Two tricks that help

Start (or motivate) with the movie

A child who already knows the story isn't facing a strange book — they're revisiting a world they like. Or flip it: show the trailer now, and the movie waits as the reward for finishing the book.

Tips for success →

The medium matters more than you think

Our son, despite being the wilder one, picked up reading without any creative nudges. With our daughter, I struggled to get her past modern comic books — audiobooks turned out to be the middle ground: a whole story going in, no visual crutch. We've compared what worked and what didn't.

Compare mediums →