So, this reading ability system has got my 13 year old reading Walden

So, this reading ability system has got my 13 year old reading Walden.
While I appreciates that he reads so well, I can't help but feel that a lot of it will go way over his head.
He would have preferred to read A Study in Scarlet, but apparently the score of the book is not "challenging" enough. I thought maybe David Copperfield, but no, THAT isn't challenging enough.
The only book he could find at his level that interested him was Walden.
Personally, I think comprehension and content are really, really important for a kid, and it just feels too soon for Walden. I don't understand this system at all.
Do you know anything about it?
How does it work?
What are your thoughts?

>he's worried his 13 year could be smarter than him

Just realized I didn't write the name of the system: lexile.

Haha: not exactly.
I'm worried that this score is ONLY about reading ability, not content or age appropriate material, and my kid will spend hours joylessly reading a book that hhe isn't old enough to appreciate, when he could be voyaging with Long John Silver, or adventuring in India with Kim.
Enjoyment is extremely important!

Let's be honest, he will misread anything that is not targeted directly for his demographic.
Let him practice on his reading skills for now (these are crucial years for him to get REALLY used to reading), he will reread and reinterpret anything that is worth reading when he'll be more emotionally mature.

This desu. It is a source of pleasure to look back on works already read and see how the self has changed through the years.

to question and not just rote comprehension, eh? why not both? count of monte christo would be fun for him, to be sure, however, the kid will need practice, and being willing is incredibly important. besides, say you let him do a report or something and see exactly where his development is so you can help shape and guide him towards better content comprehension later. challenge can be sometimes even more exciting than the rest, so don't forget that.

I'll just keep my fingers crossed that he *will* come back to it.
A very important book!
I get that he needs the reading challenge, and I suppose that is what school is for, after all.
I guess I'm just really biased toward the idea that children should be reading for pleasure.

This is a valid point of discussion. His School probably only really only cares about his reading comprehension level. Reading comprehension tends to be a little bit correlated with philosophical seasonings, but adding more salt to raw meat does little more than fool a person into eating what would otherwise be considered bad food. Likewise, simply consuming and "understanding" material isn't going to help him. Let him cook.

You're right. I was in RA in middle school, and tested at a college reading level, meaning I was limited to books for high school upperclassmen (I think the only book they had rated at a college level back then was Gulliver's Travels). I might have had a big vocabulary, but I know the satire in Gulliver's Travels would have gone way over my head. However my sister's teacher let her read lower level books, so I would ask your son's teacher if you can set up a similar system where he reads books that are at his RA level and then is allowed to read some he's more interested in.

Unfortunately these systems are designed for average students so both brighter and duller students tend to be ill-served by them. Not much you can do but complain to the school to get an exception.