Re #1 - ABSOLUTELY - I think this is true for most kids, and was true for each of my children, one who learned to read easily, another who had severe vision issues that made learning to read difficult until the vision issues were resolved, and my 3rd dd who has a dyslexia diagnosis.
We were told it was *really* important for our dyslexic dd to have us read books to her that were at her comprehension level (audio comprehension) - both for her enjoyment but also to keep her vocabulary and "reading" comprehension etc progressing.
FWIW, we have also been told that reading aloud is important for *all* children, for as long as they'll let you
We still read aloud to our teenager
Re which books o chose - have you thought of just going to the library together and letting her pick out whatever interests her? I would make some suggestions but I honestly can't remember what my kids liked at that age (I'm getting old lol!) The only thing I remember for sure is we read (original, not condensed) classics and other interesting higher level books out loud to our kids when they were very little and we never really found a book they weren't interested in and couldn't follow. Our kids also liked the abridged kid's classics when they were learning to read - so that's the one book I can remember that my dd liked - I can't remember the name of the series, but it's the "Jane Eyre" version in the series of easy-to-read children's classic books. DD read that book probably 1800 times. I will never forget her Kindergarten teacher having the kids sit in circle and everyone told what the name of their favorite book was (they didn't have to know how to read, just a favorite book). After almost a full circle of kids naming picture books, dd said "Jane Eyre". Her teacher was, um, not used to that answer lol!
polarbear
ps - Dude mentioned Harry Potter - my kids all also loved HP around this age.
