Chapter Book Guidelines
Tips on Writing for the Early Elementary Ages
Reading a book with chapters is an exciting step for children. They’re past the learn-to-read stage, but not quite ready for complicated novels. Here’s a look at writing chapter books that bridge the gap between beginning readers and middle grade.
Chapter Book Ages
Chapter books readers are typically 7-9 years old, but that can vary. A child who has grown up with books may be reading chapter books alone in first grade; there will also be children in third and fourth grade who are just moving up to chapter books.
Characters & Plots
Children this age enjoy reading about characters who are like themselves, or who are in situations like theirs. The most successful chapter books let the kids laugh, cheer or cry over characters doing things they can imagine. You can develop characters that stretch readers’ imaginations, but if they’re really off-beat, try leaving them in a familiar school or home setting. On the other hand, if you have family relationships that young readers can relate to, go ahead and set it in an exotic land or outer space. In general, leave the anthropomorphic stories (animals acting like people) for younger children.
One of the basic rules about characters’ ages is that children don’t like to read about characters younger than themselves. But children change so much during this age span that chapter books may not appeal to more than a one to two year range. So if you’re writing for third grade, your character should be eight or nine years old, not six. If you’re writing for first grade, don’t have your main character doing what third graders do.
Humor rules in chapter books! Include adventures, mysteries, squabbles between family and friends, and such, but if you can make kids laugh, they’ll come back for more.
Language
Chapter book vocabulary is straightforward and sentences are relatively short, but you can use words that are not from a grade-level spelling list. Vivid use of language is still important, and children will be able to sound out words they don’t recognize.
How do you know the reading level of your story? Search your word processing program. Most programs have a readability box to check within the spell-check system, which shows statistics. Along with word count, it will tell you average sentence length and the reading level. Use it!
Chapter & Book Length
This is the time to do some market research. Market guides will show that chapter book lengths range from 4,000 to 12,000 words. Some entries say 1,000 words, and are probably speaking of beginning readers. A closer examination at the bookstore will tell you which publishers want longer or shorter books, and individual books will show you that chapters run 400-1,000 words, depending on the publisher.
Chapter Books to Read
Study these chapter book series to see what works and what doesn’t:
- Junie B. Jones, by Barbara Park
- Ruby Lu, by Lenore Look
- Judy Moody, by Megan McDonald
- Mallory and Max, by Laurie B. Friedman
- Flower Fairies Friends, by Cicely Mary Barker
- The Magic Treehouse, by Mary Pope Osborne
For a quick list of the differences between children’s book age categories, read Writing for Children.
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