How to Choose a Book for a Neurodivergent Kid (Part 1)

Choosing a good children’s book from the thousands of options out there can be tricky. You have to consider a child’s age, reading ability, and interests. Choosing a book for a neurodivergent kid can be even trickier for a number of reasons.

• Sometimes you are choosing a book for someone whose reading ability doesn’t match up to their age or grade. Some neurodivergent kids have hyperlexia, and require books at a higher grade-level that will challenge them. Others, due to dyslexia or other challenges, may read below their grade-level.

• Some kids have attention issues that make long books a non-starter. Others have hyper-focus levels of attention for their favourite subject, and no book is ever long enough to satisfy their curiosity!

• You may find that you have a child who requires challenging books to keep them interested, but is too young for the more mature content that these challenging books contain. Or, you may find that your child who requires less challenging books gets real tired of “baby books” that talk down to them too much.

Like I said, tricky!

In this post, I’m going to show you the criteria that I look at when choosing books for my children. Then next week, I’ll show you just how I do it! I’ll look at three books on the same subject, and pick the best one, using the criteria from this week. So please subscribe, if you don’t want to miss it.

Criteria for Picking a Book

There are six things that I look for when I consider a book for my kids:

Recommended Age and Grade Level

You can’t always blindly go by the recommended age/grade when you have a neurodivergent child, but you can use these recommendations as a guide.

You may do this already with your child’s clothing. Just because the tag says “12-18 months” doesn’t necessarily mean it will fit your 12-18-month-old. However, over time, you start to get a feel for how much bigger or how much smaller your child is, and picking becomes easier. If you know that your child typically wears a size smaller or a size bigger than the tag, you can still use those tags as a good guide for which sweater to pull off the rack.

The same goes for reading. You may know that your child consistently reads one or two grades ahead or behind. This information can help you “size up” or “size down,” and pick a book off the shelf fairly quickly. Then, you can give it a closer examination to see if it really is a good “fit.”

Content

You may have found a book at your child’s reading level, but is the content on your child’s level? Is it too mature or immature? Does it appeal to their interests, or will it be boring?

Style

Content matters, but how that content is presented can be equally important!

Knowing why your child reads can help you pick a book with the right tone. Do they prefer to be entertained, inspired, or informed? Knowing what entices them to read, and what they hope to get out of a book, can help you sift through your options of fiction/nonfiction, funny/serious, realistic/fantasy-based, and more.

Also consider the “voice” that the book uses to talk to your child. Does this book come across like a boring lecture? Or like a friend telling you something interesting? Does this book “talk up” to kids, using challenging vocabulary words, or does it “talk down” to kids with simpler words? Which would your child prefer? A child reading below grade level may not want a “baby book” that talks down to them, while a child reading above grade level may benefit from a gentle approach.

Text

Look at the words themselves. How large is the font size? Usually books for children have larger print to make them easy to see and follow along with if they are using their finger as a pointer. Books with too small of print may appear overwhelming and intimidating.

How is the text presented? If your child has dyslexia, clear well-spaced text that is on a plain white background will be easier for them to read than words written in a funky font on a coloured background.

Is the book broken up into smaller chapters or sections so it’s easy to take breaks or switch off with another reader?

How much of the text is body text, and how much is breakout text?

Body text is the “normal” text of a book: large sections of words divided into sentences and paragraphs. Breakout text appears outside of the main body of words.

Breakout text usually appears in its own colourful box, with larger print or a different font style. A common type of breakout text is a “Fun Fact”/”Did You Know?” box. Other types of breakout text could be captions on photos, or speech bubbles with interesting quotes. These bits of text can break up the intimidating long sections of body text, and draw the eye for visual appeal. These are especially useful for children who need help sustaining attention. Taking a break from the main reading to look at some fun breakout text can help keep them engaged.

Illustrations

Does this book have pictures? It should. Pictures keep kids engaged!

Illustrations can help break up big sections of text so it’s less intimidating. Pictures that divide the text into more manageable sections are very helpful for children who are slower readers or who have shorter attention spans.

Pictures also help bring clarity to text. If your child struggles with reading comprehension, or if they are reading above their grade level, a good picture can go a long way to helping them understand what they are reading without having to ask. And not having to ask boosts their confidence in their reading ability.

Also take a moment to consider the style of illustrations/pictures used. Do they look too scary, too babyish, or too something else? You don’t want the illustration style to make your child lose interest before they even begin to read.

Engaging Features & Gimmicks

Does the book have a fun-loving narrator who cracks jokes the whole way through the story? Does it list any “gross” or “disgusting” facts that will draw in a mischievous child? How about recommended activities that personalize the information? A pull-out poster for their wall? Or a sheet of collectable stickers in the back?

For the reluctant reader, I am not above a good gimmick to get them interested. They may come for the fart jokes or the stickers, but if it results in them reading and learning, who cares?

So there you have it! Six criteria I use to select books for my neurodivergent kids. I hope they help you make your decision next time you’re in the book store.

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