What's a "Just Right" Book?

“Just Right” Books

What is a leveled book?

It is very important for your child to read books at their “just right” reading level. We call these “Just Right” books - books that she or he can read comfortably and fluently. These books provide some challenge, but not so much that children stumble over words frequently, lose confidence in their reading or lose track of the actual story. Most importantly, children should be reading books that are fun and make them feel like a strong reader!

Leveled books are an important part of our classroom libraries. They are used to teach reading strategies and support students as they gain more skills, becoming better prepared to independently read more complex and longer books. As book levels go up in the alphabet, books become steadily longer and more challenging to decode and comprehend. 

In Reading Workshop, teachers meet with students individually and in small groups, matching readers to books that are “just right” for them. Our leveled libraries have baskets of books at all the different levels. Once a teacher has assessed a child’s reading level, students independently select books that are interesting as well as “just right” for them. We call these “Just Right” books. Teachers routinely meet with students to foster a love for reading and to teach them new reading strategies that will help them grow as readers. When a student is ready for more challenging books, a teacher assesses their new reading level and students choose books from this new “just right” level. We then continue to meet with students to teach them new strategies that will help them tackle their new books with enthusiasm and confidence.

We provide students with “Just Right” books at school but you can also look for “Just Right” books in libraries, bookstores, or online booksellers. They can be a single book or part of a series, so children can become familiar with characters and book features that are the same from book to book in each series. It is important to understand that any book can be a “just right” book as long as it has been leveled and is at your child’s current reading level.

Tools for selecting a “Just Right” book for/with your child:

• Find out from us what your child’s reading level is
• http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/
• type any title into this search engine - make sure to set the engine to guided reading
• www.booksource.com
• make sure you go by the alphabetic level typically written next to the title
• BookLeveler
• This is an app that can be downloaded to your phone
• Scan any book’s barcode or ISBN # to find out its level
• There are other similar apps that you can get

Examples of Just Right Books

Level	Title Of Series Or Book	Author
C -D	Ethan Larry and Rita Piggy and Dad Worm	Various authors: Brand New Readers by Candlewick Press
E	Puppy Mudge Go Do, Go Mrs. Wishy Washy	Cynthia Rylant P.D. Eastman Joy Cowly
F	Biscuit Baby Bear  Harry The Hungry Giant	Alyssa Capucilli Beverly Randell Harriet Ziefert Joy Cowly
G	Sheep In A Jeep Greedy Cat The Carrot Seed	Nancy Shaw Joy Cowly Ruth Krauss
H	Life In A Polar Region, Life In A Rain Forest Just Me and…Little Critter books	Carol Lindeen Mercer Mayer
I	Dragon Messy Bessy There’s A Nightmare In My Closet Leo The Late Bloomer	Dav Pilkey Patricia McKissak Mercer Mayer Robert Kraus
J	Henry and Mudge Mr. Putter and Tabby Poppleton Fox Little Bear Danny and the Dinosaur	Cynthia Rylant Edward Marshall E. Homelund Minarak Syd Hoff
K	Arthur Commander Toad Fluffy Frog and Toad M&M	Lillian Hoban Jame Yolen Kate McMullan Arnold Lobel Pat Ross
L	Horrible Harry Song Lee Pinky and Rex Pee Wee Scouts Triplet Trouble George and Martha	Suzy Kline James Howe Judy Delton Debbie Dadey James Marshall
M	Arthur chapter books Matt Christopher (sport series) The Magic Tree House  Junie B. Jones Marvin Redpost Second Grade Friends Polkstreet Kids
N - O	A-Z Mysteries Julian books Jigsaw Jones Amber Brown Herbie Jones Judy Moody

Here is a short description of the kind of reading work that students will be doing at different levels.

First Grade: Time of Year	Expected Independent Reading Level  Description of books/reading work at this level.
September	D/E	A much wider variety of vocabulary is found in these books. Readers now must rely on their print strategies, paying close attention to the way words look and sound rather than relying on help from pictures and patterns in their books. Level E books become longer and begin to have short plot lines. At this level students should be following words with their eyes, and only using their fingers to point at tricky words.
January	G	Level G books have longer sentences, many high frequency words, and a large number of decodable words with regular and irregular patterns. They include a variety of characters and ideas and vocabulary becomes more challenging. The story line is carried by text, and pictures support and extend meaning. Readers are expected to remember information and action over a larger reading time.
June	I/J/K	At this level, books have much more text on each page and fewer illustrations/ A variety of nonfiction books are available at this level, and fiction books begin to resemble early chapter books. Readers at this level should focus on comprehension and correcting errors so words make sense in the context of the book. Levels J and K books include many early chapter books, such as Henry and Mudge and Frog and Toad. Books are longer (30-60 pages), but sentences are fairly short to help readers move through the book quickly. Readers must keep track of two or more characters, and character dialogue. Many books have episodic chapters, which can be read as their own short story.