I am also thinking of my 9th grade lit text book. He is 9 and he isn't interested in Silas mariner, Romeo and Juliet, and 70 % of the other stories at a 9 th grade level. So as long as he is happy, I am happy.
I think this is a really valid point. The last thing we want to do is turn them against reading by creating an obligation that isn't aligned with their interests.
I remember being in elementary school and reading entire novels in a night (ie. Gentle Ben, Call of the Wild, that sort of thing) and having teachers try and shove harder books under my nose... it drove me nuts. Let me read what I want to read. .
I agree. FWIW, I read a lot of comic books when I was a young kid (mostly Disney of the Carl Barks variety). I was given two separate tests when I was 9 and was told after both I was reading at a 10th grade level. I remember reading Dante's
Inferno and
Dracula when I was 16 (not for school; for fun), so something must have changed.
Personally, I think that developing a love of reading is very important --- IMO, more important than reading industrially-defined materials and answering comprehension questions.
Irena, is your son complaining about the work at school? Does he get to read what he likes at home?
