Children need to read for the love of the story. Not because it's listed on the lexile chart in a certain range. It has been proven that "reassurance reading" that is reading something that is really simple is good for kids. So is reading the same book more than once.
My DS was told that he needed to read in his lexile range and he stopped reading all together. I had to sign his log every night so I did. Since he didn't want his mom to be a liar, he took over bedtime stories for his little brothers. Lexile scores, probably 100! But he enjoyed it and so did my littles.
As soon as he was accelerated out of elementary and away from the reading log, he went back to it. He's 9 now and reading Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku.
