I've actually brainwashed my twin boys (not-identical). They both love the idea of reading. When they were learning to crawl, I would read books with me and the book on the floor a couple feet in front of them to encourage them to start crawling. They were extremely curious about what was keeping my attention.
We would read stories to them almost every single night before bedtime (punishment for extremely bad behavior was having the story time taken away).
My biggest tool I used to brainwash the kids was the concept that "people seek to confirm that which they already believe". I talked about how great school was and told hem what they would be able to do when they learned to read and do math. I got them excited about things like pen and paper role-playing games and more.
One kid I was a little too successful at brainwashing, when I told him how long Christmas break was he started crying. When Valentines Day came around the teacher had him fill out a card that had "love is" printed on it he wrote "scool" [sic]. He just got out of kindergarten and two days ago I asked him how he liked his summer break; he said "I don't. I hate breaks."
The kid has already read three of the five books from the Prydain Chronicles on his own without help (AKA The Black Cauldron series). I didn't read that series on my own until I was well into first grade.
My other son has struggled a little more but seems to be doing much better after he finished the summer reading class we put him in.
Back on topic though, I prefer light novels over manga. I would rather read the light novel before watching the Anime or read the manga.
