[rahimnathwani]

This is a difficult problem to solve for some kids, because there are at least two dimensions to consider:

- language difficulty (which is what lexile aims to measure)

- how appropriate the topic is

My 5.5yo son is decoding words at about 4th grade level (based on an informal 'San Diego Quick Assessment'). But he's limited in his reading by:

- his life experience and existing knowledge, which both affect comprehension

- his willingness to read books that have few pictures (he doesn't like books that have 10 pages between pictures)

It's hard to find books that are age-appropriate (based on topic and maybe format) but also have challenging language (vocabulary, grammar).

[cpfohl]

Totally agree. My boys are reading at an extremely high level. I wish sites like these were a grid of topical and reading level.

[awb]

The same goes for the inverse. It can be discouraging for kids behind in reading to be assigned content based on their age (or grade) only for it to be far too challenging.

It’s a hard problem though because categorization makes it easy to organize content and find what you’re looking for, but it can also feel like a competition, which is not always helpful.

[cpfohl]

I wonder if the solution is _not_ naming the categories...simply ordering them by difficulty...

[realcul]

Yes, that is definitely a good way to represent. Instead of age group based recommendation...we simply call it Phase 3, Phase 4 etc...

[bcrosby95]

The elementary school our kid goes to seems to use this rating system: https://www.readinga-z.com/books/leveled-books/

Each grade level has 4 "levels". But each kid is on their own track. And while those books have assigned grades, the teacher assigns a pool of books for each kid based upon their actual reading level. And each week, the kids are supposed to pick 4 books from their pool to take home and read.

My daughter is in 1st grade and every week picks 4 "R/S" books (3rd grade). She has a friend that still picks books in the "D/E" category (late kindergarten/early 1st grade).

[OJFord]

That's similar to what I recall from school myself, 20+ years ago. Iirc ours was based on colours, which was a nice dual because as you got more advanced the colour names themselves progressed from easy primary colours to secondary, tertiary - nicher vocabulary for the colour names before you'd even opened the book.

[realcul]

Thanks for sharing it. Will definitely check it out.

[bwb]

Is that using Lexile to do that?

[cpfohl]

Love how you guys thought it out!

[barathr]

A few you might check out:

The Humphrey the hamster series

The Zoey and Sassafras series

The Secret Explorers series

Alice in Wonderland

Some Beverly Cleary books

Many of the DK nonfiction books

[realcul]

Thanks for the suggestions. Will definitely ask my son to check it out and then add it.

[ncmncm]

Diane Stanley

And, Terry Pratchett: Wee Free Men

Of course all the rest of Terry Pratchett is there to grow into.

[realcul]

Totally agree with you on all the points. As with most recommendations - YMMV.

This is just to provide a guideline/reference. The way I recommend seeing this list is - say your kid likes "The Penderwicks" then..."hey are few other books that are similar to The Penderwicks"

[rahimnathwani]

Yes, definitely. I hope my comment didn't come across as criticism! I love seeing sites like your kid's.

I was more lamenting the general difficulty of the problem. (And possibly just the lack of books that are suitable for kids who are advanced at reading, but have interests similar to other kids their age.)

[realcul]

Not taking it as criticism. I totally agree with you. I think as a parent of these advanced kids it puts more onus on the parent and kid to work together to identify appropriate books based on these reference points.

[skeeter2020]

> how appropriate the topic is

I don't think this is a big deal, as IME kids don't find age inappropriate titles interesting enough to read. My wife is an elementary librarian and kids in grade 4 or less just don't like YA aimed at the 12+ crowd.

[rahimnathwani]

Yes, that’s the problem. The books for his age are too simple. Most books at his reading level don’t interest him.