1. Yes this seems normal. Learning to parse/read individual words, and learning to understand what is going on the story are two different things. My son could read almost any word at your son's age, but wasn't interested in chapter books till he was older. What he read voraciously at this age was non-fiction, books about dinosaurs, dragons, animals, bugs.
2. Read with him, I or my husband read to my kids every night till they were 11/12 usually reading books 2-3 years above their own reading level. Take him to museums. My son would walk around and read ALL the signs out loud and we would talk about them. Talk with him about everything around him. Look up answers to all his questions about the world around him. Let him explore the world around him. Encourage him to "write" his own stories with or without you. At this age my son would "draw" stories and an adults would take dictation. (His writing wasn't as fast as his imagination.) We loved to making this a game, and would often take turns progressing the story. Encourage him to play with other children. Watch a movie/tv show and talk about the story/plot, themes afterwards. Play games.. All of this will help your son understand the world around him and therefore be able to comprehend literature better.
Good Luck
P.S. I just re-read your post. Don't "quiz" him about the story/plot, try having a conversation with him about it. Relax and have fun with him.
Last edited by bluemagic; 01/06/14 08:41 PM.
