Have you had her eyes checked? Maybe she has problems seeing the pages. Not sure how you test for dyslexia, but you may look into that also. It's really neat you're raising your niece. Blessing to you both!

How about investigating books about the things she's interested in? Biographies of inventors, books about how things are made, how they work. There's something out there for everyone--maybe you just haven't found the right books to catch her interest yet?

You have to find something she wants to read.
My niece couldn't read when she entered first grade. We were so worried, but she just didn't want to. Of course, we had always read to her, and she may not have seen a reason to learn for herself.
I did all the things above..nothing worked until I bought her a joke book. That did the trick....knowing the punchline to a joke means you have to read it yourself, and she wanted to try the jokes on her older brothers.

After that, she got into reading big time. Today, in her 20's she is still an avid reader...always has a book in her purse, just in case she's bored.

She doesn't need to limit her reading to books. How about magazines? Nick Jr., Highlights, Discover for Kids, etc. Her curiosity may prompt her to pick up a magazine more quickly than a book. My kids love magazines, including my 13 yr old who would rather do anything but read.

Here is a link that might be useful: Magazines for Kids 4-8

Good advice here. If she's not a good, smooth reader she's not going to be too interested. Find books about her interests and don't give up. She may grow into a love of reading. Just keep trying different subjects, you'll probably hit on something!!

What does she think of non-fiction?

Maybe she would like a kids magazine subscription that focuses on her interests. I thought there was a Popular Mechanics for kids, but apparently that was just a TV show. But I googled and found this one published by Cricket, I think. Link below.

I understand the frustration. My 11 y/o DS does not enjoy reading and avoids it at all costs. He hates writing even more. In fact, he barely passed the writing test required to move on 6th grade. However, the had a perfect score on the math section of the standardized tests! Asking him to read is painful, but asking him to write is torture.

I am fine if he never *loves* to read like I do. But I know that the less he reads the less competent he will be, and the less success he'll have in all academic subjects. He MUST improve his writing skills, for school now, in his near future, and in his adult life. He will need those communication skills to live his life to his potential. As an English teacher, I know that the more he reads the more he will improve at both reading and writing. So, I want him to read more and the only way to get a kid to do that is to find a way to make him/her like it. (Also, as an English teacher, it kills me that I have a kid who dislikes reading and writing so much. ;o) )

We've also had success getting books on CD. He will listen to that for longer than he'll listen to me. I borrow them from the library. Sometimes we have the book, or I will borrow that too, and he can follow along. I like that b/c it will get him read a more challenging book that he would by himself. The professionals recording the CDs do a much more entertaining job with voices and drama than I do.

Don't limit reading to story books. Read newspaper stories, magazine articles, how-to books and even cook books (then you can make/cook the project or food). Play word games like hangman, word searches, word puzzles. That will boost her word-smarts so that she can be successful at reading even if she never *loves* reading books for pleasure.

Try looking up the websites for popular children's authors. Shel Silverstein, Jan Brett, I don't know who else. But when you find a book she does enjoy, check if the author has a website (who doesn't these days). Sometimes there are activities, coloring pages, projects, etc. that go along with some of the books.

There are some great interactive CD's of books for the computer. Kids can have the book read to them, with animated illustrations and text highlighed on the screen. There are also interactive games to enhance the fun and the comprehension. Um...let me think... "Living Books" is the publisher on the ones we have.

And here's that link to the kids science magazine, it said ages 7-10.

Here is a link that might be useful: ASK magazine

Jokes and riddles might spark her interest in reading to you. Magazines that have short stories, puzzles and riddles are a good choice, because the child can come back over and over.

My youngest daughter never 'liked" reading. so I subscribed to a few magazines-Nick Jr. and Highlights and Ladybug. Later, she liked teenage things, so I got her Teen Vogue, etc. One day at her school they had a book fair and used HER OWN MONEY to buy one of the Harry Potter books. We took turns readung a few pages aloud to each other before bedtime. She then bought several more HP books and read them on her own. She is now 18 and I've never seen her read the newspaper or a novel. She still has subscriptions to some fashion magazines, Cosmopolitan,etc. I guess some people just aren't avid readers. As a child,I loved books. My library card was my proudest possession. I wish I knew how to pass on my love of reading.

Never had that problem. We read to our daughter before she could hardly sit up and she always loved it, and always had a great attention span. We read every kind of book to her and some of them, like bird identifying manuals, for example, she loved and we would talk about the different birds. I still have one of them, and some of the pictures are almost worn off the pages from her touching the picture when we talked about the birds. Gosh, those were sweet times! The summer after first grade, she won the summer reading contest at the library, reading 470 books...all much beyond her grade level. To this day...almost 28, she takes a book with her everywhere she goes.

Wait a minute...I'm confused. The title says "Read to your child at least 20 minutes a day," but you say she doesn't like to read. That's two different things. Do you mean she doesn't like to listen to you read?

She should have some reading homework from school. And you should read to her 20 minutes a day. Bedtime is great for this. It will help her see how interesting and entertaining books can be, and it will help her learn sentence flow and structure by listening to you.

Check at your library for a summer reading program. They often have some kind of reward program for summer readers. She should read a few books this summer to keep her reading skill up.

Lots of good ideas here....be sure to check into a summer reading program with your local library. Many have wonderful games/gameboards set up so the kids can see where they are and earn little token prizes (and some major ones as well). I would also suggest you ask the children's librarian for some ideas.....some books to help you guide your niece to develop a love of reading (books for YOU to read and see if there are some suggestions that would work), go to the school and speak with two people...the teacher and the school librarian......they should be able to give you some direction. Most school librarians will fall over backwards to assist you. An eye check is a great suggestion....don't give up, you are doing all the right things, just try to think up ways to expand your search for a solution.

What about you reading to her? Check out Jim Trelease. He is a great resource for reading aloud to your children. She just might not feel comfortable reading yet, but will listen to you read. Find a time each day where you can cuddle up and read to her for 20 minutes. Make sure this space doesn't have distractions. Rather than push the issue of reading, focus on this being a special time being together.

Thanks for all the responses. Excellent suggestion to check her eyes, but we have, and they're fine. And yes, we've read to her since she was a tiny baby. She used to love being read to, many books at a time. I think it was about three years ago when she started to resist.

I was specifically talking about me reading to her, though I didn't make that clear. I do feel like I've tried a huge variety of books of all sorts. I'll also notice when she's interested in something, then take us to the library to find a book on the subject

It's not an issue of making time away from distractions. I've tried reading at different times - after school, after dinner, before bed, even first thing in the morning. Her usual response is, "Well, I'm going to go [play - cut up paper - go to sleep - get something to eat]. Why don't you finish the book by yourself?" It's exactly what her mother, my sister, was like as a child. And she hates to read now.

Now that my niece can read herself, I've tried asking her to read to me, or asking her to alternate . . . words, sentences, pages . . . in a book. I can often catch her attention for one book the first time I try something, but then she doesn't want to do it again. Her teacher says she's reading above grade level and fluently (for a kid), so they have no concerns about her.

I think I'm going to try some magazines and joke books. Both of those seem like they might capture her attention, and they're short enough that she might actually sit still to read them. I like the books on tape idea, but does that really promote reading?

Labmomma said, "you have to find her passion." I think that's right, but the problem, as I see it, is that her passions involve *doing* things, not reading about other people doing them. She is a *very* motion-oriented child. She watches television while jumping on a mini-trampoline or hanging upside down off the back of the sofa, she eats dinner while rocking on her chair, she deals with waiting in line by spinning like a top. She's able to fit within the rules at school, but everyone knows that she needs to move a lot. She doesn't have an attention problem - she can concentrate ferociously on things she wants to concentrate on. But where another kid might stay still and listen to a story out of inertia (and thus get interested), she'll be up and away.

Thanks for the recommendations on magazines. It's not exactly what I hoped for, but I think it might work. Short and to the point. At least she'll be reading! (And here I was hoping for "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "A Circle in Time" within the next year or two ....:)

Try MadLib books, I think they make them for younger kids. My kids and niece and nephews absolutely loved them. We'd crack each other up for hours. They loved using words like booger, puke, etc.

I'd suggest going to the library and checking out some 'how-to' books. Since your dn likes to craft, design pulleys, etc., check out the books where you are doing something while reading such as crafting, cooking or science experiments. Then the two of you can read and play together. It won't feel like reading. If your dn is interested enough, You can also buy little science kits for subjects like electricity, physics, chemistry, etc., in bookstores and some of the toy departments. The kit usually has step by step instructions and the science behind it.

We tended to save reading till after the baths before bedtime. We don't do tv then, and it is quiet, so the competition for attention is less. The kids always knew that story time could delay bedtime. And if they acted up and wouldn't settle down, bedtime was immediate.

Our DD didn't catch the reading bug easily either, despite the genetics from both sides of the family LOL! What finally inspired DD to read for herself was (1) playing Pokemon gameboy games -- where you HAVE to read to work the game, (2) reading Pokemon magazines and Pokemon gameboy guides, and finally (3) reading manga. The gameboy came in about age 8, the manga maybe age 12.

Now she's 17 and she's finally reading books for her own pleasure. Not a very wide variety, but real books.

So ... be patient ... and don't be too disappointed if the love of reading doesn't kick in for a while yet. Everyone's built differently, and not everyone feels that same urge to read that other people do.

In the meantime, does she see you reading alot, and see you choosing a wide variety of reading material? that might help. And if it doesn't get her reading, at least you'll have had the fun of all those books :-)