The Viking’s Apprentice | Helping Reluctant Readers Conquer Books

The story of how one trip to a bookshop changed everything — and why I’ve never forgotten it. I was not a reader as a child. I want to be honest about that, because I think it matters. The person writing these books, the person who has spent years trying to get reluctant readers to fall in love with stories, that person was once a boy who couldn’t get through a chapter without his mind drifting somewhere else entirely. It wasn’t that I couldn’t read. I could read perfectly well. It was that none of the books I was given at school felt like they were meant for me. They felt like homework with a cover. I’d sit with them and wait for something to happen, and nothing ever quite did, nothing that made me forget where I was, nothing that made me desperate to find out what came next. I was eight, maybe nine, and I had quietly decided that reading simply wasn’t for me. My Gran Knew Better My gran was a reader. More than that, she was a writer. She understood books from both sides, ...

  What happens when adults pick up a reluctant reader's book and can't put it down. There’s a review on Amazon that I keep coming back to. It was left by a parent. She’d bought two books in the series for her eight-year-old son, a reluctant reader, she explained, the kind who needs prompting, who’d never taken to Harry Potter but loved Vikings and adventure. She thought the books might work for him. She bought them. And then, as she put it herself: “Well forget my son… I loved it.” Her son did read them too, as it turned out. He found them easy to get into, the writing style and the pacing did what they were designed to do, pulling in a child who needed the story to earn his attention before he’d commit to it. But the thing that stays with me is that sentence. Forget my son. I loved it. Because she’s not the only one. The Parents Who Pre-Read the Whole Series Another reviewer, Charity, picked up the first book to read it before passing it to her children. A sensib...

  Why listening might be the bridge your reluctant reader has been waiting for. There’s a moment most parents of reluctant readers know well. You’ve found a book that looks right. The right age. The right length. Maybe even the right subject. You put it on their bed, or leave it on the kitchen table, or suggest it quietly at bedtime. And nothing happens. It sits there. Untouched. After a week it ends up under something else. It’s not defiance. It’s not laziness. For a lot of children, the barrier isn’t the story. It’s the page itself. And once I understood that I did something I hadn’t done before. I made an audiobook. The Audition My Daughter Ran Finding the right voice for The Viking’s Apprentice mattered more to me than almost anything else about the production. These are children’s books. The voice had to be right for children. So, I did something simple. Several voice artists auditioned for the role. My daughter was eight years old at the time. I sat her down an...

  "I Like That They Are Just Like Me." What Reluctant Readers Actually Want (And Why Nobody's Listening) "I like that they are just like me." Eight words. Said quietly by a boy at a school visit who had just finished The Viking's Apprentice . He wasn't talking to the class. He wasn't putting his hand up. He said it to his teacher, almost as an aside, while the other children were queuing to get their books signed. I've been visiting schools for thirteen years. I've spoken to over 2000 children about books and reading and stories. And in all that time, no child has ever said to me, "I loved how the main character was a chosen one with magical powers who could fly." Not once. What they say over and over, in different words but always the same message, is this: I liked that the characters felt like me. That one sentence tells you almost everything you need to know about why some children won't read and what it takes to ch...

  He Sat in the Corner and Said Nothing. Then Something Unexpected Happened. I've done a lot of school visits over the years. I always bring Meg — my real-life Jake — because there's something about a Jack Russell trotting into a classroom that immediately breaks the ice. Children who won't look up from their desks will crawl across the floor to say hello to a dog. Most visits follow a similar pattern. We do a reading session, we talk about the books, we do some writing work, and by the end of the day there's usually a queue of children wanting their books signed and their photo taken with Meg. But on this particular visit, there was one boy who didn't join in. He sat slightly apart from the others. During the reading session he looked at the floor. During the writing activity he sat with his pen down. I noticed him, you always notice the one who isn't there with you, but I couldn't reach him that day. I tried a couple of times. A question in his directi...

Are you fighting the "Reading War" every night? For parents of children aged 9–12, the transition from picture books to middle-grade fiction can be a massive hurdle—especially for boys who would rather be on a screen. If your child is a reluctant reader , they don’t need "easier" books; they need higher stakes . 1. Why Middle-Grade Readers Struggle The school curriculum often focuses on "classics" that can feel slow and disconnected from a modern child's fast-paced digital world. When a book feels like a chore, the brain shuts down. To engage a reluctant reader, you must provide a "Dopamine Bridge"—a story that moves as fast as a video game. 2. The 10-Minute "Viking Mission" Strategy As an author of middle-grade fantasy for over 13 years, I recommend the 10-Minute Mission . Instead of forcing a 30-minute reading block, tell your child they only have to read for 10 minutes. The Goal: Low friction. The Secret: Use books with short,...