Parents can and should make substitutions or supplement traditional reading lists. Your choice of books must also be based on the appropriate reading level for your child. Children given books below their reading level are just as turned off to reading as those who get overwhelmed by far too difficult reading material. If much of the language is over your child s head and the chapters are longer than her attention span, your child is going to gain little from reading it. Books for younger children often have suggested ages on their covers to help parents choose appropriate books.
Most bookstores arrange books by reading level, too.
While this may provide some guidance, those levels are often based on artificial averages. Just because your child is eight years old, does not necessarily mean that she reads at the second-grade level. A better way to determine if the book is appropriate for your child is to have her read the first page from the book aloud. If she encounters five or more words she cannot read without difficulty, the book is over her head right now. On the other hand, if she flies through the passage and understands everything, she is ready for a greater challenge.