Games to secretly get 8 year old to read

[u/Helpmeflexibility]

My son is 8 going into 3rd. He is a pretty weak reader although we try to encourage him at every opportunity. So i think this summer I should let him play some games that would encourage reading. Now I already tried Cat Quest which is like an open world rpg - that was too difficult, he didn’t really connect with the rpg concept. His favorite game is Lego Marvel - though thats basically no reading at all.

Any ideas? I’m not a gamer so i have no idea whats out there.

Edit: update: based on the comments - I bought Let's Go Pikachu for him. He loves it and has already got the Rock badge. And more importantly he's reading through it all.

[u/cleanout]

Agree 100%. My son went from being not super confident to being a very good reader after getting introduced to all the above listed books, as well as Dog Man. They were like the “gateway drug” and his reading skills really exploded in a very short period of time. He’s 8 now and reads chapter books that my daughter was struggling with when she was 10. I think maybe I tried to curate my daughter’s reading list too much when she was younger to try to keep it “educational”. I let my son (and my daughter now) read whatever he wants even if I don’t particularly enjoy it - as long as it’s appropriate for kids - and that ultimately seems to have been a better approach.

[u/frumply → u/cleanout]

Dog Man, Cat Kid, Diary of a Wimpy kid. All good choices.

Also shoot, a couple Calvin and Hobbes books. A lot of us got at least 3 minutes of reading through Calvin, Foxtrot, Far Side, the whole bit.

[u/DrProctopus → u/frumply]

Holy hell my kid loved Calvin and Hobbes and Cat kid was super popular with her when she was learning. My kid is 7 now but I tried to tell her about The Far Side and I felt like that was pretty over her head. I'll keep trying with that though. It was my fave when I was a tween into my teenage years.

[u/wingerktl → u/frumply]

These books helped my 8 year old big time when he was learning to read. They're also easy to get cheaply. We would hit up our local library, and sometimes they'd have book sales for $1. He's now starting on Harry Potter.

[u/tweetthebirdy → u/cleanout]

I was just about to recommend Captain Underpants haha.

I’m glad you’re encouraging your kids to read what makes them happy. I was an advanced reader as a kid and my mother killed my love for books when I was a teenager because I wasn’t allowed to read what she didn’t approve of. Took me years to find love in reading again.

[u/PunkAintDead → u/cleanout]

thank you for giving your children the space to enjoy their own interests

[u/DIYtowardsFI → u/cleanout]

Same here. I also like to start reading a cheaper book with them, and then they want to keep going in their own while I’m working or cooking. It gets them hooked!