Hey all,
I have been trying for years to get my almost 11 year old to love books as much as I do, but it has been a struggle. He adores audiobooks and will listen to them all day, but I really want him to enjoy the act of reading words on paper as well, since there are countless amazing books he would miss otherwise.
He has always been a non-fiction kinda guy, and is fascinated by the Titanic, tornados, Voyager probes, sharks, and now recently, dinosaurs. He chose Jurassic Park at the library by himself the other day, and for the first time, he has completely fallen into a story. It's a bit graphic and some of the content is not exactly appropriate for his age, but I don't even care, since I'm delighted to see him reading in the car/in bed with a flashlight/on the school bus. He's just about done and aside from the sequel, I don't know what to offer him next to keep up his momentum.
Before this, he read all the Roald Dahl books after having memorized the audiobooks. He also would read the Magic Treehouse, which really is just too simple for him, but he didn't really want a challenging read until now. He's read the I survived books as well, but he was not as enthusiastic as he is right now. I do read to him and he enjoyed CS Lewis and Tolkien when I was the one doing the reading.
Are there other realistic (ha!) dinosaur books that are page-turners like Jurassic Park he might enjoy? I think dinosaurs are the hook that might get him to love the written word, but I am more of a fantasy/sci-fi reader and don't really know of any other books I could recommend that he hasn't already rejected.
by KitKatya
4 Comments
I read a book many years ago called Raptor Red. It wasn’t very long, but I remember that I enjoyed it and it was written from the dinosaur’s perspective. It might be worth a try.
Since he’s into non fiction, maybe Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. I haven’t personally read it but I’ve heard such great things about this book
Quintaglio Ascension Series, Robert J Sawyer
Bones of the Earth , Michael Swanwick
Dinosaur Summer, Greg Bear
Dinosaur Planet, Anne McCaffrey
As a slightly off the wall suggestion, Subterranean by James Rollins. It’s not dinosaurs but it’s got a similar theme of a prehistoric evolution and I remember thinking it had a similar vibe, particularly with the science background to it but with marsupial and monotreme evolutionary pathways being utilised.
It has been years since I read it and I genuinely can’t remember if it’s child appropriate. It likely has a certain amount of violence, but had no sex at all that I recall – romance was not a feature!