Stretching the mental legs of young readers has value so having a few series of quick, punchy, engaging literary trash is a good thing.
When I was a kid, Point Horror, Goosebumps and various adventure books were the reading gym that gave me the stamina for the books I actually enjoyed (Tolkien, Pullman, and so much Pratchett).
I'm going through this with my daughter now. We still lean on thriller subjects but there is so much more choice. Goodreads is great for finding subgenres of interest and then similar books to ones that hit the mark.
But use your local library. Pick up random books co-read opening chapters, and review the style and quality together. Use your judgement and public reviews to bin out the real trash and slowly but surely give then confidence to pick up real literature.
Forcing your kid to grind through a book rarely goes well but if you really want to push it, taking it in turns to read aloud can inject enough performative energy to carry it.
All of those Choose Your Own Adventure books really built my interest in stories of all kind. I'd juggle 3-4 different by using my fingers as bookmarks until I couldn't hold the book any longer and had to pick ONE storyline.
When I was a kid, Point Horror, Goosebumps and various adventure books were the reading gym that gave me the stamina for the books I actually enjoyed (Tolkien, Pullman, and so much Pratchett).
I'm going through this with my daughter now. We still lean on thriller subjects but there is so much more choice. Goodreads is great for finding subgenres of interest and then similar books to ones that hit the mark.
But use your local library. Pick up random books co-read opening chapters, and review the style and quality together. Use your judgement and public reviews to bin out the real trash and slowly but surely give then confidence to pick up real literature.
Forcing your kid to grind through a book rarely goes well but if you really want to push it, taking it in turns to read aloud can inject enough performative energy to carry it.