“What Are Easy Readers” by Joan Y. Edwards

Perhaps you have a story that would make a great Easy Reader. Here are a few facts and opinions to help you decide.

The following link will help you understand better about Easy Readers. It’s a passage from p. 14 and p. 15 in Biscuit, a My First I Can Read Book by Alyssa Satin Capucilli with illustrations by Pat Schories.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0064442128/ref=dp_otherviews_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&img=1

Easy Readers, Emerging Readers, and Beginning Readers are all books for the young child who is just learning to read.

Many publishing houses have their own brand of easy readers. They have different levels. Each publisher’s criteria may vary. Robyn Opie says, “The characters, settings, themes and conflicts of easy readers must be relevant to your readers…consider: family, friends, pets, animals, school, holidays, sports, losing something, finding something, being left out, being different, etc.

If you are using Word 2003 and 2007, you can set your Spelling and Grammar Review to check the readability of your manuscript. It uses the

• Flesch Reading Ease http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch_Reading_Ease
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch%E2%80%93Kincaid_readability_test

6-8 year old Easy Readers have the following elements

• Color Illustrations on every page, even though they aren’t essential to understand the story
• Words tell whole story and don’t rely on illustrations to explain parts.
• Action and dialogue
• Simple words
• Simple, short sentences with one idea per sentence
• Controlled Vocabulary
• Introduce new words so they can be figured out in context
• 2-5 sentences a page
• 200-1500 words
• 48 to 64 pages

Examples of Easy Readers

Alyssa Capucilli Biscuit, Level 1 http://www.amazon.com/Biscuit-Alyssa-Satin-Capucilli/dp/0064442128
Betsy Byars The Golly Sisters, Level 3 http://www.amazon.com/Hooray-Golly-Sisters-Harper-Paperback/dp/0064441563/
Denis Cazet Minnie and Moo, Level 3 http://www.amazon.com/Minnie-Moo-Missing-Jelly-Donut/dp/0060730099/
Marjorie W. Sharmat Nate The Great http://www.amazon.com/Nate-Great-Marjorie-Weinman-Sharmat/dp/0385730179/
Peggy Parrish Amelia Bedelia, Level 2 http://www.amazon.com/Amelia-Bedelia-Read-Book-Level/dp/0064441555/

Publishers of Easy Reader Series

Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt
Harper Collins – I Can Read books
Random House – Step Into Reading
Scholastic

Resources:

1. 1. Harold Underdown, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books: http://www.underdown.org/cig_3e_ch08b.htm
   2. Harold Underdown. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books,
      Chapter 8: Novels and Other Books with Chapters (list of books) http://www.underdown.org/cig_3e_ch08c.htm
   3. Misty Karam. “Book Recommendations: Easy Readers”
      http://kids.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Kids%27_Book_Recommendations:_Easy_Readers
   4. University of Illinois. School Collection on the ESSL Children’s Literature Blog http://www.library.illinois.edu/blog/esslchildlit/archives/2010/11/easy_reader_boo.html

I suggest that you check out about 25-100 of the Easy Readers. Read this post again with one of the Easy Readers in your hand, it’ll cement its style and necessities into your mind. It’ll help you discover if this genre suits your writing style and topics of interest. I hope that this will help you decide if you have a neat idea for an Easy Reader. I’m doing a post on Chapter Books next.

Learn something new.
It’ll inspire you to be thankful for what you already know.

Flip Flap Floodle will make a wonderful gift for your 4-8 year old child or grandchild. I loved telling, writing, and illustrating it. The little duck and his song remind children to believe in themselves and never give up. It’s available as a paperback and as an ebook for the Kindle and Nook, too. I hope you’ll consider purchasing a copy. Thanks.

Never Give Up
Live with Enthusiasm
Celebrate Each Step You Take

Joan Y. Edwards
Copyright © 2011-2016 Joan Y. Edwards

Updated September 4, 2016