Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

Writing for children

Please can anyone advise me?

As I understand it, there are books for babies, then books for toddlers and pre-school. 

What are the reading age categories for books for primary age children and, is it then, young adult?

Are there any favourite authors these days?  I expect things have changed a bit since my boys were at school.  My young men are now aged 18, 20, 22. 

Comments

  • Crikey, dora, are they really? It's 4-7, 7-11, 11-13, Young adult. Obviously within those age brackets there is a lot of change - especially 4-7. Try and think of a child you know and write for them. 
  • And as a general rule, each age group likes to read stories about children just a bit older than them.
  • There is also a sub-category of 9-11.

    If you look at Amazon best sellers, that should give you an idea about popular authors.
  • Yes, you're right Nell -the publishers call it 7-11 because that suits them but the book shops usually have 9-11 on the shelves. 

    You can also think about it like schools do - the primary curriculum is divided into two parts, key stage 1 (years 1 and 2, ages 5-7), and key stage 2 (years 3,4,5,6, ages 7-11), key stage 3 is 11+, secondary.  So publishers of poetry for example probably follow the 5-7, 7-11 thing because it's easy to sell to teachers and teachers buy a lot of books.
  • Thanks TN and Liz
Sign In or Register to comment.