Tips to get children with ADHD enthusiastic about books

Published on: 05 February 2025

Illustrator and street artist Greg Stobbs suggests ways to get those who think differently into reading 

Here’s the thing about brains… as far as I can tell, every single one is different.  

It might seem like some people think similar thoughts. It might be that when you spend time around a group of people, you start to take on a bit of the way that they think or act in order to be agreeable or liked, or fit in. We love to put people in to categories, when in reality each and every one of us is a category on our own.  

When you look at art, or watch a film or listen to music, without even thinking about thinking, your brain is super busy taking it all in, appreciating it or not appreciating it, and deciding if it’s good for your soulIt’s the same with books. 

After an education spent in various levels of trouble, bouncing from one school to the next, floating off into my imagination when I was meant to be paying attention, I recently discovered during the process of writing my debut picture book Cloud Boy that I have ADHD.  

Listen, just because I have, or I am ADHD, that doesn’t mean that everything I say about it applies to everybody else with ADHD. We are all very different too! What I can say is that I’d like to try and help younger people find ways to enjoy the difference that their brain offers up, and to be able to appreciate stories and books and art in a way that works for them. 

So here are a few tips to get cloud boys, and cloud girls, and people with ADHD enthusiastic about books:

  • It doesn’t take much to stimulate an ADHD brain. In fact, we are paying attention to a million things all at once! In order to get reading find a comfortable place without devices or screens or anything that might ping, bark, talk, or tick or tock. 
  • Try out as many types of book as possible. I remember really struggling to find books that would hold my attention. My parents and teachers tried and tried to find something that might keep me engaged, and there were a lot of failures! Then one day we found Terry Pratchett and that was it… in the car, on the bus, at break time, walking around reading, completely immersed.  
  • When you’ve found what you like, get over the 15-minute mark. I find if I’m able to stay focused on reading for over 15 minutes I will be reading for hours. People with ADHD may be known for their struggle with staying engaged, but they are also very capable of a thing called hyper focus. (Which could be a power like laser eyes, or invisibility, or flying. Unsurprisingly, I digress.) In this state everything else, including time, disappears. If possible, allow the reader to stay here and make their own decision about when to move on. 
  • Don’t go for the obvious choice. Just because somebody likes football, that doesnt necessarily mean that they want to read a story about it. Try books that talk about something that you don’t know that you like, or that challenge the way that you think about the world. Sometimes a book is forquestioning, and arguing and getting cross with. Sometimes it might help you to change your mind. 
  • Try not to be snobby. There’ssometimes a tendency to think that comics and graphic novels aren’t “proper” books. This is nonsense! They have the same elements as a novel, but through them we learn to read a story through perspective, gesture, body language, expression and image. If somebody struggles to look at pages and pages of text, allow them a moment to use a different part of their brain to engage with the story. Pictures are perfect for this! Likewise picture books, even for older children. 
  • Don’t stick to the suggested age range. You can go up (carefully and with advice) but you can also go down in age. Some of my favourite books are supposedly for children, or teens or young adults, and I’m none of those things any more! These books often cut more quickly to the chase, giving boredom little chance to creep in.  
  • Books with multiple story lines. Sometimes it’s a struggle to stick with a book that is single track. When there are short sections following different characters it’s easier to keep going. 
  • Try starting out with a book of short stories for much the same reason. 

  • Use audio books. Being read to is just one of the most beautiful and calming things. Don’t be disheartened if it seems like the person with ADHD is not paying attention. They may want to move around, or draw something, or look out of the window. Like I said before, we are paying attention to almost everything all at once. I always have an audio book playing in the background while I work. 

  • Pick up a book because you like the cover. Unexpected things can happen when you do this rather than following a trend or listening to a review.  

Books are really one of the few things around that give you an opportunity to challenge and change your perspective. They give you the rare chance to live momentarily in a different brain, to think like one character or empathise with another as you learn about them. It’s worth wondering if you can try to keep doing that in the real world when you’ve put the book down? 

Cloud Boy by Greg Stobbs is out now. 

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