If you have a child who is just learning to read, you may spend most of your time perusing the Library’s Easy Readers titles. Unfortunately, there’s no standards among the publishers that produce these books so essentially you are left to guess which books might inspire your early reader.

A commonly known practice, the 5-finger rule, is one way that might help you and your child make choices. While I have personally liked using this practice as a starting point for finding books for my children to read, I ought to mention that some educators criticize this “rule” because reading comprehension is more complex than simply the words themselves on the page. Readers often use the words they can read to figure out the ones they can not.

If you are interested, the practice is simply this. Open a book to any page. If your child can read all the words on that page, then he/she may be ready for the next level while if the reader cannot read 5 words or more on a page, the book may be too challenging and may frustrate him/her.

No matter how you and your child make your choices, the Library always has lots of great books available. And don’t forget that reading to your reader is still important and enjoyable for you both. Happy Reading!