That was a very thoughtful article, you are right. Personally, I am NOT a huge fan of age recs. I used to be a huge advocate, but now as the Mom of two very precocious readers...it's hard to keep the same opinion I did pre-children. My son is 12. The summer after third grade (at age 9), he read The Hobbit and all seven Harry Potter books by himself. I struggle with finding good books for him to really sink his teeth into, and find myself reading scads and scads of adventure-y type YA just to find something that is EMOTIONALLY appropriate for a 12 year old who reads and comprehends on a much higher level. My daughter is 7 and also reads higher. I don't have as much trouble finding books for her, only because while she may read and comprehend on a much higher level, she just LOVES Bailey School Kids, Clementine, Ramona and several other age appropriate titles and series. Honestly...and this is just my unsolicited Mom opinion...if your kid is reading, let him read. Reading up or down, blah...don't worry so much about it.
Yay for this comment! I was a super-precocious reader, and the end result of being kept on "grade level" in school was that I was very, very bored, and totally tuned out of school until I got to college. Fortunately my parents weren't into restrictions, so I read plenty at home. I read a lot that was over my head, I can see now, but I got so much out of that reading despite the fact that I missed a lot of key elements.
2 comments:
That was a very thoughtful article, you are right. Personally, I am NOT a huge fan of age recs. I used to be a huge advocate, but now as the Mom of two very precocious readers...it's hard to keep the same opinion I did pre-children. My son is 12. The summer after third grade (at age 9), he read The Hobbit and all seven Harry Potter books by himself. I struggle with finding good books for him to really sink his teeth into, and find myself reading scads and scads of adventure-y type YA just to find something that is EMOTIONALLY appropriate for a 12 year old who reads and comprehends on a much higher level.
My daughter is 7 and also reads higher. I don't have as much trouble finding books for her, only because while she may read and comprehend on a much higher level, she just LOVES Bailey School Kids, Clementine, Ramona and several other age appropriate titles and series. Honestly...and this is just my unsolicited Mom opinion...if your kid is reading, let him read. Reading up or down, blah...don't worry so much about it.
Yay for this comment! I was a super-precocious reader, and the end result of being kept on "grade level" in school was that I was very, very bored, and totally tuned out of school until I got to college. Fortunately my parents weren't into restrictions, so I read plenty at home. I read a lot that was over my head, I can see now, but I got so much out of that reading despite the fact that I missed a lot of key elements.
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