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What happens when parents tell their kids that they ate all their Halloween candy?  Find out...

YouTube Challenge - I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy

I've watched a video called Reaching Reluctant Readers: Using High-Interest Fiction to Engage and Inspire. Although I did not have time to listen to all speakers, I did pick up some interesting points brought up by the first speaker, Amy Cheney.

In order to engage reluctant readers, Amy, who works in a school, listed the following suggestions:

• read, read read, to be able to recommend good books to your reluctant readers.
• limit some of the rules imposed on students when borrowing books such as due dates, writing book reports, the obligation of finishing the book etc.
• don't recommend books used in class.
• for books that you haven't read and cannot recommend to them, tell them to read the book in order to get their advice for a contest or simply for drafting up a Quick Picks list.
• know your reluctant reader
• suggest books that are humorous, unexpected, unusual, controversial, engaging, have no words
• develop a partnership with the public library (if your school board is not permitted to buy certain  books, the reluctant readers can pick them up at the local library)
• everyone says don't judge a book by its cover, but the book cover for the reluctant reader is important.  If they don't like the cover they won't pick it.  Also, make sure that the content of the book matches up to the book cover. If the cover is inviting but the content uninteresting, you will loose your reader.
• free and independent reading is the #1 reason for increased literacy, so let the students select their own book instead of pushing them to read certain types of books in order to meet expectations.