Arts & Literature

The only way to get a child interested in reading is to find a subject that interests him. For me, when I was a preteen, I discovered weird short stories. I particularly liked the Alfred Hitchcock series of books with little mysterious short stories. I also discovered science fiction and fantasy short stories. Short stories are fun to read because you dont have to spend a lot of time on them. Some people prefer immersing themselves into a novel. Reading a chapter a day can be a good habit for people to get into.

Some children may enjoy animal stories. There are endless books on almost every kind of animal. If your child likes opossums, he may enjoy Uncle Billy Possum, who appears in many of Thornton Burgess books. Rabbits, of course, are everywhere from Peter to Uncle Wiggly to The Tortoise and the Hare. Elephants have always been popular from Babar the Elephant to the modern Ame the Elephant.

Fiction Stories Bring Science Alive
Getting a child interested in science may be able to be accomplished through stories. You can find storybooks that come with kits so that your child can try to imitate some of the facts hes learned. For example, books by author Alan K. Garinger can be ordered with companion kits.

History can come to life when a child identifies with a character. Think of how much more real the Old West or pioneer times became when you read Shane or Old Yeller. A modern take on Native Americans can be found in The End of Forever by Denise Page Caraher. A girls struggle to survive on her own in Connecticut in the 1820s can be found in Tagger: Alone Along the Mystic River by J.A. Louthain. Through engaging and well-crafted historical fiction, children tend to internalize the details and feel of an era better; this can give them a serious leg up in history class.