Readability—a Key Element in Beginning Readers and Early Chapter Books

As I mentioned in my last post, Understanding Early Readers, there are several markets for books for emerging readers. Whether they are published in the trade book market (for bookstores), in the educational market (for schools and libraries), for magazines or other markets most publishers use their own reading levels to distinguish their books and guide parents and teachers.

However, if these books will be used in any way by students and teachers they must follow the guidelines of National and state-wide Standards, and Common Core State Standards.

Nancy I. Sanders’ book Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Beginning Readers and Chapter Books contains a lot of information on these standards. You can also research them at www.corestandards.org. Also, Google “National Standards for Education” and state standards by individual states. It will take quite a bit of time to become familiar with these sites. But, if you wish to write for these markets it’s time well spent.

Another book that is indispensable for writing on specific reading levels is Children’s Writer’s Word Book by Alijandra Mogilner and Tayopa Mogliner. The Introduction explains how to use the lists in the book to keep your writing on a specific reading level.

There are several nationally accepted methods of measuring readability. They are used for different purposes. They include:

• Flesch Reading Ease
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Levels
• Lexile Measure
• Lexile Framework for Reading
• Gunning Fog Index
• Coleman-Liau Index
• SMOG Index
• Automated Readability Index
• Spache Readability Formula
• Dale-Chall Readability Formula

Whew! That’s enough to scare you off, isn’t it?

It is NOT necessary that you understand these measuring tools in order to use them. Having a tool that will give you the grade levels and reading levels is all you really need.

You can find a very basic and simple tool in Microsoft Word. Under the “Spelling & Grammar” tool. When the spelling check finishes it will show you the Flesch Reading Ease score and the Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level of your text.

However, if you want more information I highly recommend Readable.io.com. The free version gives you limited use of the tools on the website. For only $5/month you have access to all of their tools, however.

You can check the readability of any document or file on your computer, or on any website or blog. It’s easy to use, too. (No, I’m not a paid spokesperson, but I love this tool!)

Readable.io.com gives you:

• All of the above mentioned reading scores and explains them
• Rates the quality of the text by counting adverbs, adjectives, nouns, passive verbs, etc.
• Gives you word count, syllable count, words per sentence, words per paragraph, etc.
• Analyzes for Buzz words, Key words and other details especially useful for online text.
• Analyzes other details useful for writing for international markets.

I can see all kinds of uses for it if you especially if you write for school-aged, or for school and library markets.

Try the free version and LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, PLEASE!

Or, dive into Microsoft Word and measure the readability of your current manuscript. It’s easy! Then tell us what it is, please.

Thanks!

Jean Hall lives in Louisville, Kentucky. She is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary. Her premier picture book series Four Seasons was recently signed by Little Lamb Books. Jean is a member of the SCBWI, Word Weavers International, and the Kentucky Christian Writers. Visit Jean at www.jeanmatthewhall.com, on Facebook at Jean Matthew Hall, and on Twitter as @Jean_Hall.