Kathleen, I think you have pointed out to something that is so important yet ignored by parents and teachers. Your book club sounds like a lot of fun. Also it perhaps reassures the reluctant readers that they are not the only ones with a reading problem. Plus, when a child takes time to read, he knows that the others will not judge him. That must be taking a lot of stress off his shoulders. A big bonus on top of that is Diary of the Wimpy Kid. Book club will of course be super fun.

I have seen parents around me get anxious when their children lag behind in reading. They fail to realise that children are used to seeing pictures to understand a story before they reach the age for independent reading. The transition from seeing pictures to understand a story and reading text to do the same takes time and practice. What helps is to let them take their time with the pictures and then read the text.