Reading under

Today I had a mom and son come in. Her son really wanted Ricky Ricotta books. When I pulled them out for him, the mom was appalled.
"These are too easy for you!" she said. The son was in at least 3rd or 4th grade I'd say. Were they too young? This is a common problem, parents evaluating their kids reading levels incorrectly. Now, Ricky Ricotta is a chapter book series, equivalent to Magic Treehouse. For a 3rd or 4th grader, these are probably too easy, however, that is not always the case.
Nowadays, books don't always have the age range on the inside covers. Many parents rely on the bookstores to have labels, which they do, but these are always very broad. And they are always very broad because they are trying not to be insulting and also, to encompass as many readers as possible. I know some publishers have gotten away from putting age ranges on covers because for older kids, as soon as they see a book is too young for them they won't pick it up. But parents are pretty clueless as well.
This is why, as a bookseller, I always ask them what the most recent thing they've read is. Many times it's something in school, and from that I can get a good idea of where their actual level is. Plus, asking them if something is easy or hard also helps. Kids can tell you a lot. But, for me, this is the best way to determine what the reading level is. I am only able to do this because I've read a lot of the books in the children's department, but I can't get to them all.
So, what is the point of this post? Well, to be honest, when I'm interested in a book and I check out that author's website to learn more about the book, it might actually be helpful if they put what their opinion of the reading level is. Not in terms of ages, or grades or those special literacy indice, but instead, through other books. In other words, if I were to read the Ricky Ricotta website and it said, this is similar in reading level to Magic Treehouse, that would tell me a lot right there.
Ok, that is all for my reading level rant today.