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Material should be suited to intended readers' ages and reading abilities

 

Reading formulas can help determine readability. Names of some are Fry Graph, Flesch, Dale-Chall, Gunning FOG. Such formulas look at aspects including:

-number of syllables per 100 words [fewer syllables make it easier because this means shorter words]

-number of sentences per 100 words [more sentences make it easier because this means shorter sentences]

-repeated words [make it easier]

-unfamiliar words [make it harder] There are lists of words familiar to various grade levels. E.g. "silly" is generally known at grade 3, "ridiculous" at grade 6.

 

In my earlier years of writing and editing, we used to do the analyses and apply the formulas by hand. Now you can get short passages analyzed free on the Internet. Various formulas are applied and you receive the results in seconds. You can find such sites by typing "readability" into your browser.

This method can get cumbersome if you're doing a lot. You can buy software that will do the same thing more easily.

 

Some materials for children are written to certain phonics patterns, e.g. Dr. Seuss's "The Cat in the Hat." Phonics patterns: bat, mat, fat, rat, that. Another example: trip, clip, dip, flip. Writing to patterns can make materials easier to read. However, it's possible to do this well or badly. Some people write better to rigid controls. Some don't.

 

Here's one of the 13 books I wrote about countries of the world. The publisher was The Child's World, based in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

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