Reading Levels
By Kate Smith
Family Health Library
The Children's Hospital
13123 E. 16th Ave.
Aurora, CO 80045
voice: 720-777-6378
fax: 720-777-7121
Updated March 4, 2010
Our consumer health library has both health books for adults and children, and donated fiction for all ages. I use colored dots to indicate age groups. For health books I put on the call number and the colored dot and then cover it all with a call number protector. It works fine and you can easily see at a glance what the reading level is. Colored dots are inexpensive and easily available from an office supply store.
Juvenile books on health topics are shelved at the end of the subject section for the adult books. They are so thin that I found they got lost when shelved in call number order with the adult books. The exception to this is the teen books: I add a .6 to the call number to indicate anything written for or about teens, and do not put "JUV" on the call number. The teen books are especially useful for adults who have low reading skills. I know that these are easy reading, but there is no embarrassment for an adult who chooses to check one of them out.
Here is a copy of my criteria for choosing the ages. These are pretty loose, and basically you just develop a "feel". I also pay attention to what the children pick when they come in. The levels were adapted from discussions with children’s librarians in public libraries. /p>
Reading Levels
PRESCHOOL or EASY -- yellow dots
- Picture books: generally a picture on each 2-page spread
- Short sentences; very limited vocabulary; larger print; simple stories
- Intended for toddlers through about 2nd grade.
- Intended that parent will read to the child.
- can be very tall or unusually shaped
- can be enjoyed by any age
- Length: 10 - 48 pages
OLDER ELEMENTARY -- red dots
- For 3rd through 5th graders
- more densely written than the EASY
- Length: 48-190 pp. for fiction
- Uncomplicated sentence structure
- Content not likely to be understood by younger readers
- Can include "bridge books" (easy chapter books)
- Fiction books: generally the main character is usually about 2 years older than the intended reader
- fiction books have chapters
TEEN - 6th to 9th grade -- a “.6” is added to the call number for health books; for fiction blue dots are on the spine.
- Vocabulary and topics are more mature.
- Easy to read sentence structure. For health topics generally have illustrations especially of anatomy.
- For fiction: Themes are not as mature as adult level but more sophisticated plots and characters than elementary.
- Fiction books: generally the main character is usually about 2 years older than the intended reader.
- Length: generally more than 200 pages for fiction