Children’s Book Types and Suggested Word Counts

Last week I talked about chapter books, which is a specific category of children’s books. Today I decided to do an overview of the different types of books that can be written for children.

Caveats to this list: These are suggested ages and word counts. There are many gray areas in publishing based on what authors write and what each publishing house accepts. Multi-published authors break these limitations all the time. But if you are a first time author looking to get traditionally published, try and stick to these ages and word counts.

Board Books
Board books aren’t really a genre, they’re a style of book binding. Most board books are designed by publishers, who create them using stories from popular picture books. This isn’t usually a type of book that is pitched. So if you want to sell a board book to a publisher, you’re going to need an amazing concept.

Ages: 0-3
Word count: 0-100
Famous examples: Pat the Bunny (Touch and Feel Book), The Cheerios board books. My kids had the three books in the picture below. There are many famous stories that also have been made into board books, but they were picture books first. For example, my children had Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla, and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? all in board book form, but those three titles are actually picture books.

Picture Books
These books are a combination of words and pictures. You do not need to be able to draw to write a picture book. In fact, unless you are an amazing artist, publishers don’t want to see your drawings at all. Publishers like to pair a news authors with established illustrators and a new illustrators with established authors. Another tip for writing picture books: avoid rhyming.

Early Picture books
Ages: 0-3
Word count: no more than 300
Famous examples: Goodnight Moon (131 words), The Very Hungry Caterpillar (221 words), If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (291 words).

Picture Books
Ages: 3-8
Word count: no more than 1000
Famous examples: Green Eggs and Ham (769 words), Where the Wild Things Are (336 words), The Giving Tree (621 words), Love You Forever (772 words).

Early Reader
These books are designed for children who are learning to read. The books have simple plots and some pictures, but the story needs to carry the book, rather than the pictures.

Ages: 5-9
Word count: 100-2500
Famous examples: the Biscuit books are an example on the shorter word count end. Biscuit Finds a Friend is one 123 words long. On the longer word count side, the Frog and Toad books are a good example. Days with Frog and Toad is 2075 words long.

Chapter Books
These books are targeted at readers in grades 2-7. They are designed to look like grown-up books, though there is usually a picture here and there. Try to include lots of dialogue and humor in these books to keep the child’s interest. Word count varies widely, depending on grade and reader level.

Ages: 6-11
Word count: 3000-15,000
Famous examples: Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne (4737 words), The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet (Secrets of Droon) by Tony Abbott (7439 words), The New Kid at School (Dragon Slayers’ Academy) by Kate McMullan (10,043 words).

Hi-Lo Books
Hi-Lo stands for high interest-low reading level. These are books written for struggling readers and students who have English as their second language. So they are written at a lower reading level, but have subject matter that is interesting enough for an older age. They are designed to increase a challenged reader’s confidence, so they will have lower word counts. For more information, check out this Publisher’s Weekly article on the topic.

Ages: varies, often between 10-13 and 14 and up
Word count: 500 – 50,000
Famous examples: (These examples might not have been written as a hi-lo books, but I found them on hi-lo reading lists.) Upper elementary ages- Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (19,784 words), Middle to high school ages- Crash by Jerry Spinelli (31,485 words).

Middle Grade
These are books written for readers from ages 8-12. These books tend to focus more on plot than characters. That’s not to say that middle grade books have bland characters. They just don’t tend to go as deep into the characters’ points of views. These types of stories are often about the adventure and fun. Romance, drugs, graphic violence, swearing … you usually won’t find this content in a middle grade book.

Ages: 8-12
Word count: no more than 45,000 words for contemporary, mystery, or humor genres. For fantasy or science fiction, the word count can be much higher—but doesn’t have to be.
Famous examples: Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville (32,762 words), Matilda by Roald Dahl (40,009 words), The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (87,223 words).

Young Adult
These are books written for ages 12 and up. YA books tend to focus more on the characters and their problems. They tend to have deeper points of view and be more emotional.  The plot is important, but often not as important as the drama. Romance is often a big part of YA books.

Ages: 12-16 or 14 and up
Word count: no more than 70,000 words for contemporary, historical, mystery, humor, or romance genres. For fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, or dystopian the word count can be much higher—but doesn’t have to be.
Famous examples: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (118,933 words), The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (65,752 words), Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (46,591 words), The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (99,750 words).

Also, if you are trying to find word counts for books, a great place is the Renaissance Learning site. Keep in mind, their genres aren’t always correct for publishing industry terms. Click here to search.

What category does your book fall in?