the school librarian told this to my 13 year old granddaughter

[El_Johns]

33. Agree. Let them read what captures their imagination. My 7 year old cousin is reading comic

books, the Marvel superheroes -- he sits in a corners and you can hear him saying the words under his breath, stumbling over the hard ones -- but the important thing is, he's motivated to get through them without anyone telling him to, and without any help from mom or dad.

At about the same age, I also read comic books -- my parents would let me buy one or two as a treat, & it was, as good as an ice cream cone.

When I was in school all the girls read series books -- Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, all those Misty horse books, etc. No high literary value there, but a story that holds your interest when you're young. You can't read "War & peace" until you master Nancy Drew -- or its equivalent.

In my current workplace, I and another person are the only ones who can read fluently -- even the boss stumbles when reading. I had taken for granted that "most" people could read fluently enough to understand a written argument or a news story until now.