How the reading works

Here is what a book looks like at each age, and how we check that it has ended up at the right level.

What changes with age

Every figure below is one we hold the writing to. If a draft falls outside its band’s range, we rewrite it before a single picture is drawn.

  • Ages 2 to 5

    A short picture book for you to read out loud.

    Length
    100–500 words
    Pages
    10–16
    Pictures
    8–10
    Chapters
    None
    Questions at the end
    2

    How this level works for ages 2 to 5

  • Ages 5 to 7

    A first book, built from the sounds your child already knows.

    Length
    500–1,500 words
    Pages
    12–20
    Pictures
    6–12
    Chapters
    None
    Questions at the end
    3

    How this level works for ages 5 to 7

  • Ages 7 to 9

    A first chapter book, with a hook at the end of every chapter.

    Length
    4,000–9,000 words
    Pages
    18–34
    Pictures
    4–6
    Chapters
    6–10
    Questions at the end
    3

    How this level works for ages 7 to 9

  • Ages 9 to 12

    A longer story with subplots and choices your child makes.

    Length
    8,000–15,000 words
    Pages
    24–50
    Pictures
    3–5
    Chapters
    8–14
    Questions at the end
    3

    How this level works for ages 9 to 12

How we measure the level

Two things make a text harder: longer sentences and less familiar words. We measure both in every book, record what we find, and show you the number itself. If a draft misses the level it was written for, we rewrite it before any pictures are drawn.

We store a grade estimate, a reading measure in the style schools use, and a banding letter. These are estimates. They help us match your child to a book, and none of them is a judgment of your child.

What a book is practicing

While your child enjoys the story, the book is also practicing four things in the background. Your child isn’t shown any of this, and we don’t turn it into a score.

  • Letter sounds

    An early reader's book uses only the sounds taught by their stage, in the order schools teach them.

  • New words

    We keep track of each word they meet and how well it has stuck. You can see the list, but your child never does.

  • Reading aloud

    They can read a page aloud to Pip, and we work out a rough words-a-minute figure. We don't keep the recording anywhere.

  • Understanding

    There are a few questions at the end, and we explain each answer whether they got it right or not.

Why twenty minutes of reading a day

These figures are about reading in general. None of them comes from TaleTykes.

1.8m

A child will encounter about 1.8 million words per year by reading twenty minutes a day outside of school.

Anderson, Wilson and Fielding, 1988

3×

To what extent are children who take pleasure in reading more likely to read above the level appropriate for their age?

National Literacy Trust

4×

The amount of reading for pleasure that a child did at ten had a greater effect on their progress by sixteen than having a parent who had a university degree.

Sullivan and Brown, UCL Institute of Education, 2013

The order the sounds come in

For a child who is still learning to decode, most words in a story are ones they can sound out from what they have been taught. The rest are heart words, the names of the characters, and the odd word a story cannot do without, which is there to be read together. When a book is held strictly to a child's phonics phase, its writing is checked against a target of at least 95% of words using only the letter sounds taught so far and no page more than 10% outside them, not counting character names, the heart words already taught and a few words the story is about, and a draft that misses is written again. This is the order we follow.

  1. 1. First letter sounds s, a, t, p, i and ns · a · t · p · i · n

    Typically read in kindergarten, fall. Heart words: I, a, the, to

  2. 2. More letter sounds m, d, g, o, c and km · d · g · o · c · k

    Typically read in kindergarten, fall. Heart words: no, go, into

  3. 3. Short vowels e and u, with ck and rck · e · u · r

    Typically read in kindergarten, winter. Heart words: he, she, we, me, be

  4. 4. H, b, f and l, and the double letters ff, ll and ssh · b · f · ff · l · ll · ss

    Typically read in kindergarten, winter. Heart words: was, you, they, all, are, my

  5. 5. The consonants j, v, w and xj · v · w · x

    Typically read in kindergarten, spring. Heart words: her, said

  6. 6. Y, z, zz and quy · z · zz · qu

    Typically read in kindergarten, spring. Heart words: have, like, so, do, some, come

  7. 7. Consonant digraphs ch, sh, th, ng and nkch · sh · th · ng · nk

    Typically read in kindergarten, spring. Heart words: were, there, little, one, when, out

  8. 8. Vowel teams and r-controlled vowelsai · ee · igh · oa · oo · ar · or · ur · ow · oi · ear · air · ure · er

    Typically read in 1st grade, winter. Heart words: what, oh, their, people, looked, called

  9. 9. Silent e and other spellings of the same soundsay · ou · ie · ea · oy · ir · ue · aw · wh · ph · ew · oe · au · a_e · e_e · i_e · o_e · u_e · tch · dge · kn · wr · mb

    Typically read in 1st grade, spring. Heart words: asked, could, would, should, water, where, who, again

  10. 10. Advanced vowel spellings augh, ough, eigh, ui, oar and ooraugh · ough · eigh · ui · oar · oor

    Typically read in 2nd grade. Heart words: island, answer, beautiful

  11. 11. Word endings -tion, -sion, -cian, -ture and -suretion · sion · cian · ture · sure

    Typically read in 2nd to 3rd grade. Heart words: special, business, color, science

Decodable text is a scaffold to lean on for a while, and it can’t do the job of a reading program. We take it away as your child moves on, which is why the restriction applies to only one age band.

If you want the background to why the order matters at all, we wrote about what went wrong with reading and what a parent can do about it.

See it at your child's level

Pick an age band and who is in the story, and read the first page together tonight.

Make their first book