Ds8 was one of the 'later' readers, compared with other kids on this board, maybe around 6. I think he was 'getting' things earlier, because as I look at earlier drawings of his, he would do a series of drawings and label the feet or other body parts on each character/sheet, with the same words - made up/ spelled phonetically (for instance feet were "crawlees" or something like that, but almost identical on each sheet).. this is something I did not notice until about 3 weeks ago, going through a drawer.
After reading a few early readers, he enjoyed captain underpants, frannie k (yay!), calvin (yay!!) and other comics-like books (lots of pictures). He consciously decided to read Harry Potter recently, and did just fine with it, really enjoyed it once he got past the 1/2 way mark. I think it is a 5.5 grade level, so that is pretty good for an 8 year old, and last year he tested at a 6th grade level for reading.
So, slow/subtle start, pretty good leaps and bounds since then.
