Conundrum

A friend recommended The Dragon of Doom, which is in the Moongobble and Me series by Bruce Coville - for the 8yo boy and 7yo girl I'm working with in the second class on Monday evening. I love the story, and the girl seems to be enjoying it too.

The only trouble is that the 8yo I'm starting to work with is finding it too difficult. I don't have a good idea about where he's coming from, but from what I can see, he either doesn't know or isn't confident about sounding words out and at one point when I asked him to just try to sound it out aloud, he completely shut down. He stared at the paper so hard I thought he was crying. After waiting a few moments, I threw the reading back over to 7 and she read the pages much more easily. Before we stopped for the night I asked 8 to read another paragraph (Moongobble's overheard first spell) with made up words in it (izzle, biggle, etc) and he read it willingly, but with hesitation.

When I asked him, he agreed that this was a little too hard, but that he didn't want to read something easier. However, I'm here to tell you that he's guessing at more words than he's able to easily read and understand.

So I'm not sure what to do about that. 7 is pretty well placed, in as much as she's reading & comprehending most of the words on the page. I suspect if I asked her to read ahead, she could do so without having to ask for much clarification.

So - do I have them continue at the same pace, or should I have her read something more challenging and give him something easier?

In which case, how am I going to manage the time in order to give them both my attention?

I'd also like to have time to read a classic to them. Some Dahl, or Narnia, or .. well you get the picture. But it's hard to split the time between giving them practice at reading and giving them the chance to hear someone else read. I never know which is more important.