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Posted By: AntsyPants High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 03:37 PM
Hi, I could use some help. Do you have Lexile scores at school? DD8's score isn't even way out there but I have trouble finding books for her in her Lexile. She likes Series of Unfortunate Events. I have found a few Ramona books (read them all), Little House series (not high interest for her), the Narnia books and Harry Potter. She doesn't want to read HP (who's kid IS this?? lol) and Narnia is doubtful too.

She loves funny books with strong female characters. Before her newest testing I found Lucy Rose, Sheila the Great, Harriet the Spy but now that she was retested with higher Lexile Score there are books like the Twilight Saga BELOW her level frown

I am going to email the teacher for suggestions. I am having the same problem with DS10. He wants to continue the Pendragon series but those are even below DD8's Lexile! Same with Ender's Game which I am sure he'd like. Of course he can do extra reading in his free time but he doesn't have any right now! Not with all this school reading (3 books at a time for various projects) I guess I should be happy because this is a way to differentiate within the class but I am frustrated.

It seems the writing is "mature content/low reading level". I need "high reading level/child appropriate content"![i][/i]
I couldn't find where you indicated your DD's and DS's lexile levels.

That said, you might have some luck going back in time, choosing 19th century authors to find suitable books at a high reading level. Has your DD read Little Women? Has your DS read any H.G. Wells?
DD10 & DD8 enjoy the Dear Dumb Diary books.
oh, DD8 is 890, DS10 is 1260.

I will try those suggestions. I remember disliking Jules Verne myself. I don't know if DS10 would be interested. He likes fantasy but when it's old science fiction there is a different kind of suspension of disbelief needed. I will take a look at HG Wells.

DD8 has not read Little Women. She lost interest in Harriet the Spy because it was "old fashioned" (what was that, the 60s?) But maybe it will be so different, like a new world and she will see it differently.

Thanks!
thanks, I didn't know what the NC meant! I did use the tool and found it returned very limited results and included the book DS was currently reading.

I got his teacher on board and she said she will keep an eye out.
Perhaps this is off track, but I'm wondering why it is important that she read books at a particular Lexile score. As she's already a strong reader, I'd say that the most important thing is reading something she really enjoys and wants to read. So, I'd focus more on what interests her and less on getting books at a particular level.
Posted By: amylou Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 05:20 PM
Honestly, we don't pay much heed to Lexile scores in choosing reading material. I once tried to use the Lexile Book Search to look for humor books for my 10 year old. The only thing it returned was some sort of scholarly treatise on humor - couldn't be farther from her normal interests!!

This same child, now 11, reads a lot, averaging probably several hundred pages a day. And I would say the vast majority is well below her Lexile level. We help feed her addiction, choosing things in most cases that we know fit her interests. For pleasure reading, our primary interest is to keep it pleasurable, regardless of Lexile level. We're more likely to try to sneak in some books with some thematic substance to them than to push on the reading level.
Posted By: SiaSL Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 05:45 PM
I think the issue is that the school wants her to read "in her range", which would be 790-940L, right?

If she likes fantasy Patricia Wrede has a few clean adventures within that span, starting with Dealing with Dragons (why does the lexile level of the following three books in the series drop down???).

Tamora Pierce is a bit more teenage oriented (and after re-reading the first Alanna book yesterday night I ruled it out for my son in the near future) and some of the series are in her range. The Circle books and the Trickster *might* be OK, IIRC there is little sex but (like most fantasies) quite a bit of death and mayhem.

Some of the Heinlein juveniles are in her range, but you'll need to make sure she doesn't slip into the other stuff.

Although in my experience young kids are very good at ignoring the weird stuff if it is way out there for them. It gets to be problematic when it gets closer (but not close enough) to age appropriate (reason why reading Vian's Heartsnatcher at 9 didn't scar me for life, but late Heinlein at 13... was a lot iffier).

For your son... It gets difficult to find fun stuff in that range. If he likes fantasy and hasn't read it yet the Odyssey (the real Homer) is in his range, and it was a big favorite of mine as a child. The Illyad was very disappointing after that.
Posted By: SiaSL Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 05:52 PM
And +1 to the ridiculousness of using those leveling tools to the point that kids don't get to read anything else. I mean, how many of us read daily within *our* range (which I expect would be >1600)??

the class requires that at least one of her AR (accelerated reader) tests per quarter be a book in her Lexile Level. This is not my doing! lol
Originally Posted by SiaSL
And +1 to the ridiculousness of using those leveling tools to the point that kids don't get to read anything else. I mean, how many of us read daily within *our* range (which I expect would be >1600)??

true but i think i read that the average adult (not US of course lol) reads on an 8th grade or lower level!
my kids are both voracious readers. this is a very annoying obstacle. i can imagine if you had a child that wasn't interested in reading this would only make it worse for them!

maybe i should tell the kids to take a dive on the next Lexile test so they can read what they want! :P
also, like i said before, it does give the teacher an easy way to differentiate for reading in the class. One child is doing Diary of a Wimpy Kid, another The Hobbit, but all working on the same book report project. I don't know, i mostly just think it's annoying!
Posted By: SiaSL Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 06:21 PM
Which is a level 1000-1100L, and precious few of the books I read for fun (mostly genre fiction) go higher than that.

I tried to feed a few of the fiction books from the "what are you reading?" thread into Lexile. There is very little there (they haven't leveled a song of fire and ice?!?), and their book finder has pretty much nothing above 1500 anyway. Looks like only juvenile and YA editors bother to get their books leveled.
Posted By: SiaSL Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 06:31 PM
AntsyPants: not a solution, because I think they have to read within 150 points of their level (-100, +50).

Here is the funny thing. Our school uses DRA rather than Lexile, and they don't test (or rather they last tested in May, at which point my DS7 was supposedly below a lexile 200 in English). The last book he read independently at home was a lexile 700. He doesn't test well, but I also noticed something of a trend in his Accelerated Reader reports: if the book is way below his level he tends to score worse. The more challenging the book (and I picked that 700L book -- shorter, written bigger than the 590L books he currently reads with his father -- as an easier independent read, which shows how... unintuitive leveling is) the better he does on the quizzes. Weird?
Posted By: NCPMom Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 06:39 PM
Have you tried Scholastic's Book wizard ? http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/
If you use the advanced search, you can search by genre, interest etc. Just a thought smile
This has a lot of great suggestions:

http://www.examiner.com/gifted-children-in-national/info-101-book-list-for-young-gifted-readers
Originally Posted by SiaSL
He doesn't test well, but I also noticed something of a trend in his Accelerated Reader reports: if the book is way below his level he tends to score worse. The more challenging the book (and I picked that 700L book -- shorter, written bigger than the 590L books he currently reads with his father -- as an easier independent read, which shows how... unintuitive leveling is) the better he does on the quizzes. Weird?


My kid too!
Posted By: Kate Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 08:24 PM
When we got DS's lexile results sent home, it came with instructions on how to find books in his range using the book wizard I think. The most important thing is to just name ONE or two categories of what you like. I made the mistake of naming lots of categories, and got a list with way too much variety...in other words, it didn't help me choose. So I picked "fantasy" only and got a nice list. Picking fantasy and adventure and science fiction and science and history was the wrong way to do it, even though DS is interested in all those things.

Have you tried that Antsy-Pantsy?

And don't forget (since our kids go to the same school) that you have to write a permission slip if the books are YA.

yes, i did this with his age and picking fantasy and it gave me 3 books. one was the book he was reading that had some mature content in the end that I felt he wasn't ready for. At his age and lexile it's pretty slim pickin's.

DS doesn't take books from the media center, I pick them up at used book stores and the library usually so I haven't had to write a permission slip.

you have all given me some good ideas though so I will investigate. He is done with his required reading for this quarter and I have some time to gather suggestions for him for next quarter.
Posted By: revmom Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 09:26 PM
I had to have an argument with my DD10's teacher over reading levels for AR books because the majority of the age appropriate books were well below her level. Of course, the majority of what she wanted to read were in the 4th - 5th grade levels (we currently use STAR Reading levels, not Lexiles), and she was told she had to read 6.0 or above. When I explained that she would not be able to read any of the reading assignments for his class or the Battle of the Books books, he relented and artificially dropped her level for AR. My main concern at this point is that she ENJOY reading.

Good luck.
Originally Posted by revmom
I had to have an argument with my DD10's teacher over reading levels for AR books because the majority of the age appropriate books were well below her level. Of course, the majority of what she wanted to read were in the 4th - 5th grade levels (we currently use STAR Reading levels, not Lexiles), and she was told she had to read 6.0 or above. When I explained that she would not be able to read any of the reading assignments for his class or the Battle of the Books books, he relented and artificially dropped her level for AR. My main concern at this point is that she ENJOY reading.

Good luck.

DD8 just did a STAR test too. What is this? there's a GE, IRL and ZPD...how many tests do we need?? She got a GE 5.2 at the start of the quarter.
Posted By: Pru Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/10/11 10:35 PM
We found Lexile useless because DD reads only for pleasure and what she prefers to read is about 400-500 points below her range. probably like what most of us would do. When we tried some titles out on her that were in her upper range, she got spooked or simply had no interest.

At this point a high Lexile score seems to be a hazard because it makes her teachers think she should be reading things she shouldn't. This happened in 2nd grade when her teacher let her read anything in the library and she got spooked. This year we warned her 3rd grade teacher in advance in case DD scores high on reading tests again.

Speaking of which, I've heard other parents report their child's Lexile score changing dramatically, like dropping several hundred points from the previous year, etc. I'm skeptical of how accurate a measure it really is.
Ditto for the STAR test. At the end of kindergarten DS was reading 4th grade books and STAR tested at 4.1. He read 3rd-5th grade books all summer. At the beginning of 1st grade he STAR tested 3.1, which are clearly way too easy for him.

The school librarian hates the STAR test and A.R., and feels they're completely inaccurate of a child's actual ability.
I don't know if guided reading is much better. DD started first at a level 'j' and ended by completing 'o'. This year she started in level 'M'. Her lexile is 550-675
Originally Posted by Pru
Speaking of which, I've heard other parents report their child's Lexile score changing dramatically, like dropping several hundred points from the previous year, etc. I'm skeptical of how accurate a measure it really is.

DS's has been high and getting higher with each testing so I neve question it. His teacher told him to "keep doing whatever it is hes doing" Should I tell her he's been zooming through tons of books, all 500 pts below his Lexile Level???
Posted By: Pru Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/11/11 01:07 AM
Originally Posted by AntsyPants
DS's has been high and getting higher with each testing so I neve question it. His teacher told him to "keep doing whatever it is hes doing" Should I tell her he's been zooming through tons of books, all 500 pts below his Lexile Level???
Same thing with DD: big score gains during the year but reading the same age-level books in the same series through 2nd grade.

This quote is interesting:
Quote
Within a single chapter of Pride and Prejudice, for example, 125-word excerpts of text (the unit of assessments used to obtain students� Lexile levels) that were pulled from every 1,000 words had Lexiles that ranged from 670 to 1310, with an average of 952. The range of 640 on the LS represents the span from third grade to college.
Also, Pride and Prejudice has a Lexile score of 1090 and the children's book Paddington at Large has a score of 1160! My DD read that particular Paddington book with relish, laughing along the way, but when she tried reading Pride and Prejudice recently on one of her nightly reading homework sessions just for fun, she only made it through 23 pages before putting it down feeling exhausted, uninterested, and probably somewhat baffled.

Her 3rd grade teacher told us about the Five Finger Rule which I think is good commond sense at least from a comprehension standpoint. I'll be using that to help DD pick out books, and just ignore Lexile from now on.
Posted By: DeeDee Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/11/11 01:15 AM
We go purely for interest, not for level. We do watch violent content for our fairly sensitive DS.

My favorite online list:
http://www.examiner.com/gifted-children-in-national/info-101-book-list-for-young-gifted-readers

This site is searchable by "sensitive reader" and age, which has yielded appropriate content for us:

http://armadillosoft.com/booksetc/l...le=&authorLName=&ageLevelConcept[]=3&forSensitiveKids=y&Request=Look+for+books

DeeDee
Posted By: CAMom Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 10/11/11 01:49 AM
Last year, my DS's lexile level was given as 1100-1300. He was 8 and in 3rd grade. The teacher insisted that his independent reading books all had to be in his lexile level. It wasn't until I asked her to print me a list of recommendations that she went "Oh, wow, uh yeah..." because she realized that there was almost nothing in that range that would appeal to an 8 year old and most of what did was totally inappropriate for his maturity level.

I find that it's the variance in material, the exposure to different types of writing and a true love of reading that matters far more than lexile level. My son devoured the Percy Jackson series- which brought a passion for mythology that has lasted more than a year.
Interestingly, our experience has been the opposite of what many here describe, with DD's teachers urging her to choose books that are too easy. She has taken (at her behest) many quizzes on some website that approximates AR and gets 9/10 or 10/10 on books ranging up to 6th-7th grade or so, but at school she is being given books in the 3rd grade range or so (she is in second). However, I don't believe she has had her Lexile tested, so maybe that's why. I have decided not to care about this too much since she does a lot of independent reading that is harder.

DD is an interesting case in that her comprehension appears to be much better than her vocabulary, which actually isn't all that great for a kid of her general ability.

Anyway, I do have a couple of suggestions. DD recently read Rabbit Hill, by Robert Lawson, which is aimed at younger children but has a Lexile of 1050. She has also been reading the Borrowers series--its exiles vary a somewhat ridiculous amount but range from 770 to 910. There is this series called Fairy Chronicles that DD has been reading off and on since she was in K whose Lexiles are mysteriously high, IMO--1050 or so. I don't think they merit those Lexiles but if you were looking for books that appeal to young girls and are not inappropriate, they sure would work.
DD has been reading this one at school and really loves it--its Lexile is 1050:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-School-Y..._1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319558145&sr=8-1
I wanted to bump this thread for a rec: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. I think its Lexile is 850 or something, which isn't accurate, IMO, because the vocabulary level is incredibly high. DH and I actually had to look up two words (one was "widdershins"; I forget the other). DD is really enjoying this book and it's stretching her vocab immensely.
Posted By: epoh Re: High Lexile Level Books for young readers - 01/27/12 02:58 PM
I would ask the teacher for recommendations. Your son is basically at higher reading level now than the general population. You could move onto non-fiction books, but I'm not sure how many you'd find that he'd be interested in.
Originally Posted by ultramarina
"widdershins"

Counterclockwise? That one comes up in fairy tales; I think I picked it up from one of Andrew Lang's books.
Ha, my daughter loves the fairy chronicles right now, and those wild Lexile levels scared me for a minute when I saw them (she's four). I think certain things in their formula are weighted just so. It's tricky finding good reads! DD is t ready for more developed, involved books quite, but if she doesn't have a good read it RUINS our bedtimes/mornings (she likes to read in bed). So I've been hunting a lot lately. She was reaching the end of the rainbow magic series and the library only has two flower fairy books. Anyway, one thing I really like is the accelerated reader search-- it specifically says interest level, so anything "lower elementary" but higher reading level has been spot on.

Also a girl I went to high school wig wrote the girl who circumnavigated fairyland! I can't wait til DD is ready for it.
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