When the boys were in the early elementary school years, there was a program called DEAR - drop everything and read. They loved it. I did too, but often wondered why they were left to read whatever they want, and why their reading (in school) wasn't a bit more guided. Artemis Fowl, Deeper, ... are all interesting reads, but they are quite shallow. Since we have begun homeschooling, I have tried to focus DS2 a bit more on classical reading. In the last couple of months, for example, we have read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Time Machine, and A Christmas Carol. At first, I got a lot of blowback (complicated storylines, vocabulary, ...), but now I notice that he really likes to read the classics, and will turn to the popular paperbacks only when very tired and bored.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/03/a-slow-books-manifesto/254884/
