Guided Reading Levels
The Fountas & Pinnell guided reading level system evaluates “genre/form, text structure, content, themes and ideas, language and literary features, sentence complexity, vocabulary, words, illustrations, and book and print features” to provide instructional levels for books.
While guided reading levels are meant for educators, they can be helpful for children’s book selection—as long as they are not used as a label, restriction, or rule.
Young readers flourish most when empowered to choose books based on interest and enjoyment. Reading Rockets states: “Our goal is to motivate children to want to read so they will practice reading independently and, thus, become fluent readers. That happens when children enjoy reading.” If your child is really excited about a specific book or series that is age appropriate, run with it!
With that said, we have set up links to the library catalog to assist in searching for reading leveled books.
Guided Reading Level Book Lists
Youngest Readers:
Early Readers:
Intermediate Readers:
Advanced Readers:
If you need help selecting books, please ask!
The Upper Saddle River Library also has an early reader collection for beginning and emergent readers. These books are a stepping stone between picture books and chapter books. There are four sections:
- Purple (Step 1): picture reading, word repetition, short simple sentences, focus on phonics and letter sounds.
- Blue (Step 2): short sentences, simple text and stories, focus on basic vocabulary.
- Green (Step 3): longer sentences, simple chapters, focus on high-interest words and stories.
- Black (Step 4): challenging sentence structure, rich vocabulary, longer chapters, complex characters and stories.
You can also request Children’s Book Recommendations or email Miss Erin the Children’s Librarian.