Hi, all. I am wondering if there is any set rule for determining how one gears their story, novel, picture book, etc. to a child's age. I've always had trouble with that. Thanks much.
Rule for determing the age level of a manuscript for children
- Thread starter Susie
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There are two ways I know of to do so:
1) Spend times with children of your target age to get a better understanding of what will work for them
2) Read books targeting the same audience you intend to target & see how they handle it.
Sorry, that's all I can offer you.
1) Spend times with children of your target age to get a better understanding of what will work for them
2) Read books targeting the same audience you intend to target & see how they handle it.
Sorry, that's all I can offer you.
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There really is some formula for determining the reading age of any book. It has to do with the amount of syllables or some such thing. I learned it once, long ago, but it has been forgotten.
I also would suggest a trip to the bookstore or library and check out books for your target audience. Or... ask a librarian. They know.
I also would suggest a trip to the bookstore or library and check out books for your target audience. Or... ask a librarian. They know.
Hi Susie!
Here are two other things you can do without leaving the computer.
Go to Amazon.com, sign in, and read excerpts of children's books. They give approx. targeted ages.
Go to http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_home.asp and type in a children's book you know of, maybe from Amazon.com, and it'll give you word count and targeted age.
It also depends if you want your story to be an easy reader or an early chapter book. Those are books that a child, say, up to third grade, will read to themselves. Sentences are shorter, words mostly on their level. A picture book usually is read to the child.
You can get more info at www.underdown.org or www.verlakay.com or www.write4kids.com.
Hope this helps!
Here are two other things you can do without leaving the computer.
Go to Amazon.com, sign in, and read excerpts of children's books. They give approx. targeted ages.
Go to http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_home.asp and type in a children's book you know of, maybe from Amazon.com, and it'll give you word count and targeted age.
It also depends if you want your story to be an easy reader or an early chapter book. Those are books that a child, say, up to third grade, will read to themselves. Sentences are shorter, words mostly on their level. A picture book usually is read to the child.
You can get more info at www.underdown.org or www.verlakay.com or www.write4kids.com.
Hope this helps!
You can get national reading vocabulary lists (US) here for grades K-5. It doesn't help with the length question, but it will give you an idea about how hard the words should be for the beginning reader to decode.
http://www.tampareads.com/trial/vocabulary/index-vocab.htm
http://www.tampareads.com/trial/vocabulary/index-vocab.htm
Also, I don't know if publishers swear by these or anything, but you can get Microsoft Word and other word processing programs to display your document's readability statistics: measurements like the Flesch, Flesch-Kincaid and Fog index. They measure the length of the syllables, words, and sentences.
Monica
Monica
To activate the Readability software in Microsoft, try this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch-Kincaid_Readability_Test#Microsoft_Word
It also explains each of the tests, and shows the formulas. Hope this helps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch-Kincaid_Readability_Test#Microsoft_Word
It also explains each of the tests, and shows the formulas. Hope this helps.
My publisher uses the (general) formula that the readership is two years younger than the protagonist. 12 years olds don't want to read about 10 years olds.
try looking at uuhsc.utah.edu/pated/authors/readability.html
It includes (US) grade level equivalencies for your specific documents based on syllables, sentence word counts, and punctuation.
(Fogging/Smogging)
It includes (US) grade level equivalencies for your specific documents based on syllables, sentence word counts, and punctuation.
(Fogging/Smogging)
about the flesch-kincaid
I'm confused by the whole Flesch-Kincaid thing. Does the score below mean that no one in a lower level will understand it?
Cassie
Readability Scores
The text you entered has been checked, and scored as follows:
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 70
Ideally, web page text should be around the 60 to 80 mark on this scale. The higher the score, the more readable the text.
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 6
Ideally, web page text should be around the 6 to 7 mark on this scale. The lower the score, the more readable the text.
Gunning-Fog Index: 13
Ideally, web page text should be between 11 and 15 on this scale. The lower the score, the more readable the text. (Anything over 22 should be considered the equivalent of post-graduate level text).
Notes:
Average syllables per word: 1.5
Average words per sentence: 10.11
I'm confused by the whole Flesch-Kincaid thing. Does the score below mean that no one in a lower level will understand it?
Cassie
Readability Scores
The text you entered has been checked, and scored as follows:
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 70
Ideally, web page text should be around the 60 to 80 mark on this scale. The higher the score, the more readable the text.
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 6
Ideally, web page text should be around the 6 to 7 mark on this scale. The lower the score, the more readable the text.
Gunning-Fog Index: 13
Ideally, web page text should be between 11 and 15 on this scale. The lower the score, the more readable the text. (Anything over 22 should be considered the equivalent of post-graduate level text).
Notes:
Average syllables per word: 1.5
Average words per sentence: 10.11
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Hi Susie,
Although I've already finished my children's manuscript I genuinely appreciate this thread I've gained some much needed input from the posts here. Thanks everybody.
I attended a panel discussion of locally published writers where I learned that one of the best resources for feedback on a children's story is a librarian.
After receiving that information I got up the nerve to ask the head librarian of the children's section at our main library to read my story. She was fabulous. It took a little while for her to get back to me, but it was worth the wait.
She commented on age, vocabulary, length, etc. She was phenomenal.
Since that time I've made approximately 8 or 10 revisions (smile), the story is longer and I've settled on an age group--(6-9).
I also took a look at "Writing Children's Books for Dummies."
Best wishes in your efforts.
Although I've already finished my children's manuscript I genuinely appreciate this thread I've gained some much needed input from the posts here. Thanks everybody.
I attended a panel discussion of locally published writers where I learned that one of the best resources for feedback on a children's story is a librarian.
After receiving that information I got up the nerve to ask the head librarian of the children's section at our main library to read my story. She was fabulous. It took a little while for her to get back to me, but it was worth the wait.
She commented on age, vocabulary, length, etc. She was phenomenal.
Since that time I've made approximately 8 or 10 revisions (smile), the story is longer and I've settled on an age group--(6-9).
I also took a look at "Writing Children's Books for Dummies."
Best wishes in your efforts.
Last edited:
Readability Tests
Just a note on readability tests. If a section of text has a readability score of say grade 5, that means that 50% of readers with a grade 5 ability will understand the text. And the other 50% will not. Not exactly a great measure of comprehension. So while these tests will give you an idea if your text is grade 5 or grade 11, they should only be used as a guide. Their flaw is in the way they calculate the grade - only taking into account the number of words and syllables and not considering that in some cases larger words are a better choice for improved comprehension.
Just a note on readability tests. If a section of text has a readability score of say grade 5, that means that 50% of readers with a grade 5 ability will understand the text. And the other 50% will not. Not exactly a great measure of comprehension. So while these tests will give you an idea if your text is grade 5 or grade 11, they should only be used as a guide. Their flaw is in the way they calculate the grade - only taking into account the number of words and syllables and not considering that in some cases larger words are a better choice for improved comprehension.