Children s Library,Stanley A.Milner Library,with Ilona Storie, Youth Services Librarian,Jasper Place Branch,Edmonton Public Library. Children in grade one and two are learning to read on their own and gaining confidence in their reading skills. Publishers have responded to the needs of these children by producing books in series. Today there are many series of books for the beginning reader. I Can Read books have a small amount of text with a limited vocabulary and are printed in a large typeface with lots of space between the lines.
Publishers often indicate a reading level on their books by numbers or letters.
Children learn to read at different paces and what is difficult for one grade one student may be easy for another. A rule of thumb is that the more text on a page and the smaller the typeface,the greater the reading difficulty. A simple test is to have your children read out loud. If they can read a page without difficulty,the book may be too easy. If they can t read it at all,then it is too hard.