Oh, aren't they fun 
? I work with 1st through 5th grade struggling readers, and those 5th grade boys are certainly their own creatures!! What I've found is that reading material choices are so key to getting them onboard.
My guys like mostly non-fiction, short, sports or science related articles. My go-to source for reading material for them Is Newsela. Have you visited their site? It's free, up to date current articles in lots of areas, and can be adjusted to several lexile reading levels. There certainly are others out there, but my guys like these a lot. We usually read 2 of those a week, and lots of discussions/opinions are shared.
I was surprised to discover that they also like Reader's Theatres--really even fiction--as long as they get to choose their parts.
We have tried a few biographies--and they will tolerate them as long as they are not too long.
Am I sad I can't get them into longer novels--you bet--but at least they are reading and talking about what they're reading.
I'd love to hear others ideas.
