I recently helped a patron find some audio books for her 2rd grade son. I could say he’s a reluctant reader, although I didn’t talk too much with the kid — one of the difficult aspects of reader’s advisory for kiddos can be only talking to the parents. Another difficult aspect, I find, is finding books at a specific reading level, based on grade level, DRA or Lexile. And finding the books at that appropriate level that are checked in.
I understand that reading levels can be helpful for parents and teachers, but as librarians, I want to recommend books that kids will have fun with and enjoy. My goal is to get kids to like reading, to find books that they find exciting and fun, that will get them coming back to read and check out more books. Teachers and parents, understandably wanting to track reading progress, assign reading levels to kids. The mistake, I think, is wanting kids only to read at that level.
For example, the boy found an audiobook about ninjas he wanted to listen to. However, we couldn’t find the reading level, so the mom passed on the book in favor of another with the reading level information available. How can we encourage reading without forcing it to fit into some sort of box? If this is a helpful system for the kids and their reading habits, fine, but I’m talking more about situations where the reading system and what the kid wants to read is directly opposed. There must be a better way to let kids read what they want!
