Individualized Stories for Reluctant Readers

These are stories for reluctant readers.  The stories are written at the child’s reading level (not grade level) and are about any subject the child is interested in.  The main character is the child. The supporting characters are siblings and friends. Just give me the reading level of your child (DRA, AR, Lexiles) and you can choose a story from the library or I will write the story at their level, gradually increasing the level as the story continues.  The content is based on the child’s interest. Examples of content I have written about is: Harry Potter type adventure, a pet sheep, robots, hippos, mummies, and ships. The stories for your child will be written in size 18 font and are also available with the dyslexie font.

Example of  how the stories work

I was tutoring a third grade, dyslexic girl.  She loved the Harry Potter series. This was in October so I wrote a Halloween story. It was a Harry Potter type adventure including her, her best friend, her younger sister and her best friend’s younger sister. All of the names have been changed for the purpose of this website. She read one brief chapter each tutoring session. Each chapter ended with a cliff hanger.  How the stories get progressively more challenging:

 She had learned to read 2 syllable words. She had just learned vowel teams and silent e.  In the chapter below, we were working on words with suffixes (ing, ed, ful,ly).

     She had just learned the ending “ture” and words containing the vowel team "ei".

Chapter 1.Halloween Night

This is a story about a child named Simone and her exciting time one Halloween.

     Simone went trick or treating with her little sister Samantha. The two children went alone. Simone swore to her parents that she would protect Samantha. Simone did not mind because she loved her sister very much. Simone’s parents told her to be careful and waved goodbye.

     Simone and Samantha, dressed as Hermoine and Harry Potter, began to walk down the street, hand in hand, going to different houses and asking for treats. They received lots of candy, which they put into their bags.

     Suddenly an ugly goblin grabbed Samantha! Samantha began to scream and flail about. Simone reached for her little sister, but the goblin had already carried her away on his bike.

     Simone jumped onto her Harry Potter Nimbus 3000 broom and gave chase. She knew she could outrun the goblin because he was on a very old bike. She caught up to the goblin and pulled Samantha away.

     “Run, Samantha!” called Simone as she poked a hole in the goblin’s tire so he could not capture another child.

     Samantha ran as fast as she could back to the house. She did not know her parents would not be there. They had gone to visit some other parents for a few hours.

As Simone was trying to damage the bike, the goblin grabbed her. He tossed onto the broom and sped off with her. He was not a very good driver. Simone was terrified. She was screaming and yelling at the top of her lungs. There was nothing she could do. They flew too high for her to jump off.

     What will happen to Simone and Samantha? More to come……

In Chapter 2, we were working on words ending in "le" and "ion."

Chapter 2. Simone Fights the Goblin

Remember! In the last chapter of the story, our dear Simone had been captured by a mean goblin. The goblin raced away with Samantha on the back of the broomstick.

Meanwhile, Simone’s best friend Andres had just begun trick or treating. Andres has very special supersonic hearing. He could hear Simone’s cries for help from far away. He abandoned his plan to go trick or treating and raced home to retrieve his Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 broomstick.

        Although, the goblin was not a good driver, he did manage to take Simone to the witch’s hideaway. The goblin pulled Simone behind him to the witch’s door. The witch answered the door and said, “Welcome! You are just in time for some tasty insect stew. The stew includes grasshoppers, roaches, and beetles.”

     “I have something even better!” exclaimed the goblin. I brought you a tasty child which will provide much more meat for your stew.”

     Simone began to struggle with the goblin, but she could not get away. The witch said, “Give her this magic potion to make her calm down so I can get her in the oven.” She handed the goblin a silver goblet full of green slime.

     The goblin insisted that Simone drink it. Simone only pretended to drink the potion. She really let it dribble down her chin. The goblin could not see well so he did not notice.

The goblin refused to wear glasses because he is very vain. That is so silly! Doesn’t he know glasses are very fashionable and would actually improve his looks?

     Simone pretended to get sleepy and began to slump. The goblin eased his grip on her.

     Simone heard something and glanced out the window. It was her friend Andres! She lifted her hand and gave him the secret friendship signal to let him know she saw him. Of course, the goblin did not see her do this.

Will Andres be able to help Simone?  Or will the witch have Simone for dinner?  More to come….

Price available upon request