Choosing A "Just Right" Book

By jsmith260 | Updated: Feb. 8, 2025, 10:45 a.m.

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Choosing a "Just Right" Book
Strategies for Choosing a "Just Right" Book for Independent Reading
1.  Preview
2.  Five Finger Test
3.  Ask yourself if the book is Easy, Challenging, or Just Right
4.  Enjoy the book
Preview The Book
1.  Does the book have an interesting cover?
2. Read the description on the back cover.  Are you interested?
3.  Do you know someone who read the book before you?  Did they find the book interesting?
Five Finger Test
1. Turn to any page in the book
2. Hold up Five Fingers on one hand
3. Read the page and put a finger down each time you struggle with a word or you are unsure of the meaning of the word 
If you get to the bottom of the page and still have at least one finger up, this book has passed the Five Finger Test
The book may be too easy
You can read the words smoothly with an interesting voice
and
You you already know a lot about the topic
and
You understand everything that is happening in the story
and 
You can easily make pictures in your head
and 
Your thinking comes easy as you read the words
If...
The book may be too challenging
Many of the words are hard to decode 
and
You don't know what many of the words mean
and 
You are struggling to make pictures in your head
and 
Your reading rate is slow and not very smooth
and
You lose focus, get confused, or have lost interest because it is too much work to read

If...
JUST RIGHT
A book is "Just Right" if...
You can understand what you are reading
and
You enjoy the book
and 
You can read the book with smooth fluency, even if there are a few choppy places where your reading speed may slow for a minute
and 
You can figure out the words that are TRICKY and still get the meaning of the story
and 
You can mostly make pictures in your head
Remember
If you are reading and you...

Understand and enjoy the topic

Can tell a friend what is happening from each chapter

Can read smoothly like you would in a conversation

Find just a few places where you have to think about the meaning of the words

Then 
CONGRATULATIONs
you have found a 
JUST RIGHT BOOK

Choosing A "Just Right" Book

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