I was mad about easy readers and beginning readers a few years ago. I bought a handful of books from every publishing house, I counted the words, I checked the sentences, I verified the readability statistics and researched the market as thoroughly as I could.
I eventually got two books published from A-Z Reading and then I haven’t yet been able to crack the market.
One thing I did discover while I was researching the market was that this particular genre, especially in its lower age ranges are increasingly being written by editors themselves or commissioned in-house. I tried various routes, I found multiple editors who would review my material, but there was no biting the bait. Most of the houses publishing this was big corporate and mostly didn’t accept from unagented writers. In many cases, these books were commissioned from illustrious names and there is no competing with that.
I had almost given up, until recently. I have been working on some stories that are not picture books. They are simple stories – more board book if I still want to stick with one format – but more intended towards reading aloud and for new readers. I decided to join a critique group and restart my efforts at cracking the market.
First thing I noticed was – one of the early reading series that is doing really well in the UK, is again commissioned mostly, and from big names. But I am not going to be easily discouraged this time. I have now started researching again – word counts, sentence counts, readability levels, publishing houses, levels, brands, writing guidelines – the works.
This week I’d like to share some research and analysis from ALL ABOARD READING – GROSSET AND DUNLAP.
In their introduction, they say that this series is specially designed for beginning readers. Books that excite imagination, expand interests, make them laugh and support their feelings. They do mention that they use well-known names to write and illustrate these books.
The other characteristic is these books can be both fiction and non-fiction. When they are non-fiction, they are often curriculum related.
They have 4 levels in this series
Picture Readers – super-simple texts, many nouns appearing as rebus pictures. Books come with flash cards at the back.
Station Stop 1 – This level is for children who have just begun to read. Simple words in big type. Picture clues to help identify the word and lots of repetition to help word recognition and reinforcement.
Station Stop 2 – These are for kids who are reading with help. Short sentences. Simple plots, simple dialogue.
Station Stop 3 – These are for readers who doing it on their own. Longer text, harder words and complex stories. A small challenge to conquer and something to be proud of.
So, who’s ready for some statistics?
I analysed this book – Benny’s Big Bubble – Jane O’Connor and Tomi DePaola
Picture Reader Level.
In 10.5 spreads, where only one page of the spread has words, there are 11 pages of text.
There were around 190 words (so let’s say up to 200 words).
Each sentence had at least one word in rebus picture format.
There were 24 sentences – averaging just about 2 sentences per page.
The story itself is
- told simply,
- with lots of scenes that enables illustrations in every page.
- It has a fun ending and
- it is a topic that kids would love to read about and relate to.
So can you write a story with a beginning, middle and end in less than 200 words, with at least one noun in each sentence, that changes scene every 2 sentences and is fun to read?
It is quite a challenge to write such a book and I would love to start writing this format again.
Next week we look at Ready To Read series by Simon & Schuster.