Just Right Books Are Just Wrong
Story builds reading ability not knowing that one doesn't know some words.
I was dismayed today when visiting the beautiful children's section of a public library I had long wanted to visit to discover a poster on how to select "just right" books. A decade ago when working in school libraries I discovered the "just right" method being used to limit emerging readers choices and turning them off reading, perhaps for life. I truly believe the leveling of what kids can read is the best way to create non-readers, people who never experience the loved of reading and the joy of exploring our world and beyond through story.
If you aren’t familiar with “just right” book selection, a reader is to raise a finger for each word on a page they don’t know or can’t pronounce. If they raise three fingers the book is too challenging for them and they need to find something easier. It doesn’t take into consideration what the reader is interested in. In some schools children are only allowed to read books that fit that criteria, banning them from reading anything that may be considered too hard for them.
It is bad enough that schools use leveling to limit learning the love of reading. Public libraries should not follow suit. Usually the mission of public libraries includes broadening the access of readers to the stories that will matter to them. They should not be limiting readers or even encouraging them to limit themselves.
Schools focus on children learning to read. Public libraries offer the opportunity of reading to learn.
I am not alone in believing limiting what a child can read to books with 2 to 5 words per page they do not know (or perhaps don't know how to pronounce.) This is all part of the educational philosophy that students should be challenged a little bit but not too much. Anyone who has ever encountered a six-year old who knows and can read the names and attributes of numerous types of dinosaurs has seem that interest in a subject can allow a child to read far beyond a specific level.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/if-we-want-bookworms-we-need-get-beyond-leveled-reading
https://shanahanonliteracy.com/upload/publications/98/pdf/Shanahan---Should-we-teach-at-reading-level.pdf
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/leveled-reading-making-literacy-myth