Many sixth grade students think they are telling the truth when they complain, “Reading is boring.” However, they don't realize what sort of activities encompass reading. As a teacher with a few years of experience, I am finding new ways to engage reluctant readers and show them reading can take many different forms. In this essay, I describe how I have felt defeated by student reluctance toward reading as well as how I am learning a different approach by surveying my students’ interests. These interest surveys fuel my read‐aloud selections and help me arm myself with literate materials seemingly tailored to my students. The students, at first, are surprised some of these materials “count as reading.”