For DS 5 I would say it depends on how you look at it. I get his books for him (which he prefers) and I learned pretty early after his, for lack of a better term LOG explosion, that he can't read only at the level he is currently on. What i mean is that just because at 4 he could read and get science for 5th graders it didn't mean that was all he wanted to read. So once I realized that i was boxing him or boring him in I went wide as well as deep, so I started getting him picture books, science books and chapter books and increasing the levels of all as needed. So a year later, at 5 he is reading some much higher level chapter books than last year, are they as high as he could be reading, no because not all of him is on that skill level. But he is also reading picture books for 5 year olds, although not so much anymore. Typically I get the picture books that aren't in the picture book sections but are in the subject sections. What's interesting is he knows at some level how he wants to build knowledge, we are reading together, the title of this book is secret, "we" haven't finished it although he actually has, he couldn't wait for me and i cant read more than 2 or 3 chapters at a time. But it isn't just speed, he also wants to read it with me because he knows he didn't get all the words even though his comprehension is enough to know and get the story at a good level of comprehension, although he doesn't say that aloud and I cant get him to ask about the words he doesn't know while reading, he just won't. I also brought home the 39 steps, he took one look at it and said there were too many words. And it's not comfortable for him to not have any pictures - in fact he gets the most complicated things particularly when they have pictures. It's why he really liked the magic school bus picture books, which most 4 year old kids find hard. Plus, DS is not super interested in the social development stuff which comes when the books get harder, he has learned about bullying, divorce, liking girls, stuff which he has no experience of and really no interest in, but they are there. So for DS he sort of puts up with it in order to read the main stories which are more interesting and sophisticated, than the starter chapters. But part of him is at the level of one of his books right now that he is loving, mammoth academy, such a silly story but it's his humor level even though his vocab and comprehension are so much greater.
So short answer - for my DS he reads both down and up but it's very dependent, for fiction, it's got to be the right kind of book, good story, not so much social stuff, some pictures not too many words on the page, although that keeps changing. In fact all of this keeps changing. I brought home the harder ones in the last month or so because I was getting the feeling that he was searching for more, that he was stagnating, it's these weird uncertainties that make me think he needs to delve more deeply or get new science or harder books, I haven't entirely gotten the hang of it yet
But when my DS isn't finishing something its because of the story sometimes or because its too hard or looks too scary. He has lots of reasons but its always specific to the book - not to reading over all.
Hope this helps!
DeHe
