LearningRx Reviews Tips to Choose the Right Books for Your Child or Teen Reader

To celebrate January being National Book Blitz Month, one-on-one brain training company LearningRx (www.LearningRx.com) is sharing tips with parents who want to choose appropriate books for their child or teen reader. Here’s a quick reference guide for books by age.

Ages 3-5What to look for: Books in this age category are typically picture books—heavy on illustrations and bright colors, often written with shorter, simpler sentences.

Ages 6-8What to look for: Books in this age category are often referred to as “early reader” books. It’s common for these types of books to use lots of sight words or words that can be easy deciphered with the rules of phonics. The illustrations typically reflect the text in order to offer clues to more difficult words.

Ages 9-12What to look for: This age group (or ages 8-12) is often referred to as “middle grade” readers. Books tend to run longer than for younger children—typically 30,000 to 50,000 words. The protagonist is usually between 10 and 13 and topics are frequently focused on friends and family. The voice is often third person.

Ages 13-18What to look for: Young Adult (YA) books are longer than middle-grade books, ranging from 50,000 to 75,000 words, and typically told in first person in order to hear the main character reflect on what happens to and around them. YA books for the lower ages in the category (13 and 14), is usually free of violence, cursing and sexually explicit language, while books for the older ages in the category are more edgy.

Looking for tips to help improve your child’s reading comprehension? Check out this list of tips from LearningRx: https://www.LearningRx.com/our-programs/readrx/

To learn more about Read Across America Day, visit www.readacrossamerica.org.