Hello, everyone! Isabelle Knight here again with ANOTHER book recommendation, this time for reluctant readers. Honestly, I think there are a lot of reluctant readers out there in the world probably because they think books are boring or because of required reading. I totally get it. When I was younger… em… let’s just say I wasn’t an avid reader. And now fast forward… what, four years, and I’m the author of a whole series! I know there are lots of people who dislike reading because they think books are boring. Well let me tell you, books are far from boring! I think you just need to find the right book for you. As for the required reading issue, let me make it clear you are not required to read any of the books here, but I do hope you find one that you’ll like.
Also, I can’t totally guarantee that people will love these books because everyone has different tastes! But these are just some of the fantasy books I like (more like LOVE) that transformed me from a reluctant reader to an avid reader, MLP lover, and author!
1. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
This is literally my FAVORITE book of all time!!!! I don’t know why, but something about this book, the author’s writing style, the magic, the fairytale elements and Cinderella retelling just really clicked with me. I’ve read this book FOURTY SIX times. Forty-six. That’s a lot of times. I just really love all of the magic that’s within this book and all of the problems and situations that poor Ella gets dragged into. There’s a lot of magic, seriousness, and humor in this book (especially when the parrot orders Ella to kiss him. Em… you’ll know what I mean when you read the book) and that’s what really got me into it.
The book is about Ella of Frell, and it is a Cinderalla retelling but with a twist. From the moment she was born, Ella was cursed by the foolish fairy, Lucinda. Cursed with obedience, which Lucinda thought was a ‘gift’. Yeah, not quite. Because of this gift, Ella must do anything anyone commands her to do, and she doesn’t know a way to break the curse. Ella’s life isn’t like TOTALLY UTTERLY miserable, but it still isn’t great either. But things take a turn from bad to worse when Ella’s mother dies and her father remarries a mean stepmother, Dame Olga, and Ella gets two new stepsisters, Hattie and Olive. Hattie is mean, Olive… I don’t really know how to feel about her. She’s kind of… not mean, but not the brightest person in the world. Ella is sent away to finishing school but runs away to find the fairy Lucinda in an attempt to break her curse.
And there are a whole lot of adventures and problems she gets dragged into, but they are just so fun and so interesting and intriguing to read. As I said, this is a Cinderella retelling, and the last third of the book is pretty similar to Cinderella but with a few of Gail Carson Levine’s own twists. This was the book that I absolutely loved and inspired my love of reading, and I hope you’ll enjoy this book too!
2. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
This is another one of the books that inspired my book obsession! This book has a relatively quick pace, the usual very relatable kid/teenage problems, and has a very intriguing and serious plot with also a whole lot of humor along the way. I actually read this so many times, my copy of the book is… not in the greatest condition to say the least. The thing that covers the cover has started to peel off, and I had to glue it back.
This book is about a twelve year old boy named Percy Jackson who has ADHD and dyslexia which definitely makes things hard at his boarding school. But one day, after an incident with Nancy Bobofit, the sort of ‘mean girl’ at the school… well, a lot of things happen and Percy Jackson vaporizes his algebra teacher. Later, he discovers that all the Greek gods and goddesses are real and very much alive and that he is a demigod – the son of Poseidon. And also literally a forbidden child. And that there are going to be a whole bunch of problems coming his way because Zeus’s lightning bolt has been stolen, and he suspects Percy Jackson of stealing it. With his new friends, Grover the satyr and Annabeth, the daughter of Athena, he will have to travel across the country to the underworld to retrieve the lightning bolt and find the real thief. If he fails, there will be all out war.
This book will definitely catch your attention and put you at the edge of your seat until the last page. I really love this book, and I think a lot of kids will too. It has everything a lot of them love – fast pacing, great character development, and a LOT of humor. I laughed so hard during this book and finished the series in two to three days (I’m a speed reader).
3. Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
This book has a pretty similar feel to Percy Jackson, except that instead of Greek gods and a male protagonist, it has Hindu gods and a very quirky, extremely hilarious female protagonist, Aru Shah. I love this book and the whole series, and I finished it in a week and re-read it a lot of times.
The book is about twelve-year-old Aru Shah who lives in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture. She isn’t as fancy and rich as her all her other classmates and… ‘exaggerates’ a bit so that she fits in. One day, her classmates catch her in a huge lie and they dare Aru Shah to prove that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is truly cursed. Aru Shah takes the dare, but when she lights the lamp, she accidentally frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon who is going to wake the god of destruction and bring an end to the world. Aru’s mother and classmates are frozen in time, and when a pigeon named Boo shows up, she finds out that she is the reincarnation of one of the five Pandava brothers from the legendary Mahabharata poem and she shall have to journey through the kingdom of death along with her new soul sister, Mini.
This book is amazing, and just like Percy Jackson, it has a quick pace, strong character development, and a whole lot of humor. I really like how this book, while fast-paced, isn’t as fast paced in the sense that it’s not rushing through events. It really has this very natural pace and it’s fast and slow in all the right places. Plus, I really love the cover!
4. Wilderlore by Amanda Foody
This is another one of my favorite books, and I read it over and over and over again! It’s currently a four-book series with a fifth book coming in 2025, and it just has so much magic and wonder and whimsy and adventure. Perfect for any reader!
Wilderlore is about a boy named Barclay Thorne, and he lives in the town of Dullshire (which is as boring as its name sounds). He’s an apprentice to the town’s mushroom farmer and doesn’t really like adventures and such. But when Barclay accidentally break’s the town’s most important rule, never to stray into the Woods, he accidentally bonds with a Beast. In this book, Beasts are basically magical creatures with powers that you can bond with. And one of the number one things that the people of Dullshire hate: Lore Keepers, people who’ve bonded with Beasts, and the Beasts themselves. So when Barclay is run out of town by an angry mob, he is determined to break the bond. But to do so, he has to travel to the town of Lore Keepers and enter a dangerous apprenticeship exam.
This book is absolutely amazing, and I really loved it! The author’s writing style is pretty similar to mine, and this book has so much adventure and magic, and the magic and world-building is just so well created! A must-read for all lovers of MG Fantasy, even the reluctant readers!
5. The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
Oh, wow. I absolutely LOVE this book, but sadly, I was not able to read the rest of the series because they are not available on Kindle Unlimited, but I love this book! It has the same style as Percy Jackson but with a whole different world and a whole different set of gods and goddesses and MCs. It has the same fast pacing, intriguing evenrs, and of course, the same humor.
The Kane Chronicles follows the adventures of siblings, Carter and Sadie, though at the beginning, they’re quite literally strangers. Their mother died a long time ago, and Sadie has been living with her grandparents in London while Carter has traveled the world with their father, Dr. Julius Kane, the Egyptologist. Chaos breaks loose one the night that Dr. Kane brings the two of them together at the British Museum where he accidentally unleashes the destructive Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion while the two siblings are forced to run.
Soon, they discover that the gods of Egypt are real and waking and the absolute worst of them, the chaotic and destructive one, Set, is after the Kanes. To stop him, the two siblings have to embark on a dangerous journey across the world.
I really love this book and finished it in a day (by which I mean 24 hours because I found it before I went to bed so…) because it was so amazing, hilarious, fast-paced, and just so well written. The world and characters are definitely crafted with care, and it’s just so much fun to read!
6. Warriors by Erin Hunter
This is a pretty famous book that has an ENORMOUS franchise of series arcs, novellas, companion novels, and guidebooks. It is another one of the books that sparked my love of reading, and I was utterly OBSESSED for well over six months! Still am. Warriors has so much action, adventure, and, of course, cats! I’m a huge cat-lover, so this was a must-read for me! I absolutely loved it and stole a bunch of things from it for Enchantria. Don’t tell anyone.
Warriors is about a normal, ordinary housecat named Rusty. One day, he goes into the woods beyond his backyard and meets three cats – cats very different from him. Wild cats. The cats of ThunderClan, one of the four clans in the forest. When he decides to join these newly met, strange cats, his whole life takes a turn as he is thrust into a brand new world of adventure, hunting, and secrets. A lot of secrets.
This book will thrust you right into the world of the clans, and you will undoubtedly not be able to put this book down. I dare you. I also recommend it for cat-lovers! Plus, with all the action, adventure, mystery, quick pace, and secrets, it will undoubtedly be perfect for reluctant readers!
My Guide and Tips and Tricks for Finding Books for Reluctant Readers
Now, in this blog, I shared some of my recommendations for reluctant readers. But of course, everyone has different tastes, some of them vastly different, so some (or all) of these books might not work for you. Which is why at the end of this blog post, I’ve gathered all my tips and tricks and guides for finding a book that works for you. Here’s what I’d like to say to parents:
First of all, if you are trying to get your kid to be an avid reader, don’t try and force a pile of books on them. That’s not going to work, and that’s probably going to just do the opposite of what you intended. I love reading because I can just pop in and out of any world I please, be anyone I want to be, and just feel the magic of the books I love! I often find that being forced to read really takes away the joy and the magic of reading.
What I’d recommend doing is just taking your kid to the nearest bookstore/library (perferably one that lets you flip through the books so that you read the first page) and just stay there for thirty minutes to a whole hour and just let your kid browse among the books and find one that they like. Tell them to just find a book that appears interesting and let them read one page. Not the whole book, not the whole chapter. Just one, single page. Often, if it’s a great book, the first page is gonna be enough to hook you in. People often dislike reading because they’ve had a bad experience with reading before, like being forced to read, so just let them browse among the books and find one on their own accord.
Don’t try and force it. And if you’re going to give them a book to read, know what they’d like to read. Even if they don’t read that much, you can still figure out what they’d like by other things – the TV shows they watch, the games they like, even their room’s decorations! My room is pretty aethstetics mixed with fairytale fantasy like, just like my personality and the books I like to read! Use your knowledge of what you know about them and carefully handpick a book for them. Give them something THEY’D like to read. Not because it’s a bestseller, not because lots of other people like them, but something that your kid would like to read. And even then, don’t force it onto them. Make sure they know that they have the choice to finish it or not and to read it or not. Or tell them to just read the first two pages whenever they’re in the mood. See if they like it.
What I’d like to say to kids: Reading is fun! There are a whole bunch of books in these world, hundreds of thousands of millions (sadly, I can’t go all the way to a billion), and there’s something for everyone out there. You just need to find the right one. As I’ve said, lots of people have had bad experiences with reading because they were forced to read. Well, lemme tell ya this: Unless it’s for school, you are TOTALLY NOT being forced to read. You can go to your library, pick up a book with a great cover and read the first page. Drop it if you don’t like it. Just go read, go explore! Find out what you like and don’t like. Don’t feel forced to pick up a book just because it’s a bestseller or because other people like it. Feel free to browse, explore, and find out what works for you!
Thank you all so much for coming, and I hope I’ve helped you find some amazing books out there! Also, don’t forget to check out my book, Enchantria: Guardian’s Heir and the second book, Enchantria: Sun and Flame if you haven’t yet. Also, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel, especially the posts section. Something important’s happening… Wouldn’t want you to miss! 🙂
Isabelle
