If you want to tell reading-skeptical kids about "the volta", please don't phrase it as "the volta". Just say that a lot of good novels need you to read them for a bit to see what's going on, and then it will get good. They might already be familiar with the idea from TV shows.

But also, it's extremely possible to write a novel that grabs you from the first page. Thriller writers are the most obvious case. A gripping concept or setting can do it, too. This author might think they're too cool for books like that, but we shouldn't keep them away from kids if that's what they want to read.

For years my youngest kid (10yo) showed no interest in reading. He would very sometimes try, but give up after a few pages.

But then he read a book that opened with the sentence “I thought I was being followed.”, and that was his gateway drug.

I fully credit the author, Maren Stoffels, for getting my boy into reading. Every book by her is exciting from the first page. If you’re Dutch and have kids, I warmly recommend “De Wisselaar”.

Furthermore - there are more than enough novels that grip you immediately, to spend your whole life reading them and avoiding the rest.

"The rest" tend to come in two categories. Books I lack some experience for to be gripped by - which I may come back to in future. And bad books - which I will not. YOLO.

Margaret Mitchell got me to read a thousand pages of Gone With The Wind because she placed a juicy hook in the first chapter (Ashley) which gave me the motivation to read the entire book to see what happens.

Why more novels do not have central hooks I do not know. Hooks are usually what keep me reading, unless the book has some kind of reason for being interesting otherwise.

It took me more than a week to go through the first chapter in the first Harry Potter book.

It took me 4 days to finish the rest. This is because the pacing was wrong - the first chapter should have been the last.

[dead]