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outlines some good points while considering font choice

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What fonts should you use for the cover and interior of your children’s books? What size?

Well, it depends. I’m sorry there’s not a definitive answer, but it really depends. How many words are in the story? Who is the audience? What kind of mood do you want to convey?

Picture Book Fonts

Picture book manuscripts are generally 500 words or less, and the story is laid out in a 32-page format. With a title page, half-title page (optional), copyright page, dedication page (optional), you have about 14 double-page spreads for the story, along with the last page 32. If you follow that standard format, you can generally use an 18 pt or larger font. Unless you plan to make the typography part of the art, it should be the same size on every page. Of course, if you plan to change the color of some words, bold others, and make some huge, then—well, do what you think is best for the book’s design.

For example, here’s a page from THE BOOK WITH NO PICTURES, by B.J. Novak.

As for fonts, you need to know the difference in a serif and non-serif font. Serifs have the small lines at the bottom of the letters that are meant to help you scan along a line of text. The image above has serif fonts. Non-serif fonts do not have that.

Either type of font works in a children’s picture book, but if you have very short text, the non-serif fonts might work better. If there’s lots of text (I told you, it depends!), a serif font will make it easier to read.

After that—it’s a wild west out there and you can choose any font you like.

To make it easier, though, I’ll give you some to start with that I’ve used, in no particular order:

SERIF fonts: Myriad Pro, Georgia, Plantin Infants, Alegreya, Garamond Pro, Crimson, Baskerville Old Face, Century Schoolbook.

NON-Serif fonts: Helvetica, Gill Sans, Quicksand, Century Gothic, Avenir Next, Lato.

The goal of choosing a font in a children’s book is one thing: legibility. Since a child will try to read it (even for preschool books where the parent reads aloud, kids need to be trying to decipher parts of the text), it must be legible. Nothing blurred, smudged, twisted, distorted, or otherwise compromised. Legible. Period.

Dyslexia fonts: Should you use a font that is designed to be friendly to dyslexia? Research shows that sans serif (Verdana, Garamond, Helvetica, Computer Modern Unicode, monospaced (Courier), and roman fonts (Arial, Times, Myriad) help dyslexic readers. They also found that reading was significantly impaired when italic fonts were used. Significantly, fonts designed to be used with dyslexic readers such as OpenDyslexic, were found to be clunky and difficult to read. See this research also.

READ NEXT: Here’s one of the most popular posts on IndieKidsBooks:

ILLUSTRATOR: Finding and Working With an Illustrator

Here’s a book that I recommend to beginners because it lays out the principles of great graphic design: The Non-Designer’s Design Book. It has simple, effective lessons that you can speed through. You’ll learn a lot - fast!

Display Fonts

Those suggestions are for the interior of the book. There’s another class of fonts, the display fonts. These are meant to be big and bold, so they are suitable for the title on the cover. For these - go where ever you want! Don’t stick with the tried and true for the titles; instead, go for something that evokes the mood of the book.

For example, on Wisdom, the Midway Alabtross and other books in the Extraordinary Animal Series, I used Charlemagne Std for the animal’s name and Lithos Pro for “The Midway Albatross.” The author/illustrator names and the subtitle are in RevueBT. Interior text is Minion Pro, semibold, 24pt.

Is this the perfect font choice for the interior and exterior of the book? I don’t know. But the book works and sells well. In the end, that’s all you can ask of your fonts, to help you sell your book.

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Love the abstract shapes and her choice on colour palettes!

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Love how this illustrator shows how to use the pencil tool in procreate to add extra textures!

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Good demonstrations on how hand cut collages can be used!

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heidi: understanding children's books age groups

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heidi: understanding children's books age groups

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defines characteristics of books for different age ranges with examples

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I've seen some confusion on more than one occasion about children's books age groups.

Do I really have to choose an age group for my book?

How do I choose which age group to write for?

How do I know if my book is right for my intended age group?

What are the differences between books for different groups?

Let's start by answering the first question right now.
Yes, you need to choose an age group.
Having a clear age group for your children's book is crucial. Children grow in their ability to understand and sense of humour, and what they enjoy changes. A book for a 1-year-old, 4-year-old, 10-year-old and 16-year-old are all vastly different.

So we're going to go over:

What is a children's book? (The answer may surprise you!)

The different age groups and types of books for each

Examples of each and every kind of book mentioned

Crucial considerations for authors concerning age groups

There are a few important points for authors to keep in mind when choosing and writing for your age group:

Write for the group you WANT to write for, not the one you feel you "should" write for, for any other reasons.

Following from that, write what you enjoy reading or are drawn to.

Read a lot of books for this age group (in the genre you write in or want to write in).

Build an audience in one age group first before writing for another (if you want to change). Else you're more or less starting over each time.

The main character(s) in children's books for any age group should be slightly older than the audience the book is intended for.

What is a children's book?

Firstly, what is classified as a children's book? It may surprise you that it covers books for ages 0 all the way to 18. So YA (young adult) books also fall in the children's book category.

These are guidelines. If you search, you'll see the descriptions of these groups vary from website to website, but not greatly.

You're probably clear on if your book is for young children or teenagers, but let's go into the more specific subdivisions.

The different age groups and types of books for each

Here's a quick list of age groups and the different kinds of books for them:

Newborn to age 4: Picture books in the form of board and soft books

Ages 2-5: Early picture books

Ages 5-8: Picture books, coloring, activity and novelty books

Ages 4-8: Early (easy) readers

Ages 6-9: First chapter books and graphic novels

Ages 8-12: Middle-grade novels and graphic novels

Ages 12-18: Young adult (YA) novels and graphic novels

Nonfiction books also exist for all these age groups

A note on illustrations and age groups

Even though the story, word count and book types vary from age to age, most illustration styles can work for any age group.

Your options are many. The main thing to keep in mind is if a kid in your age group will like and understand the drawings. Too abstract won't work for toddlers. Too baby-ish may put off older kids.

A Young adult book rarely contain illustrations, but could still have (especially for the cover).

: Look at other books for your age group to see what is selling.

Picture Books

A picture book is a book where the text and drawings work together to tell the story. Without the illustrations, the book won't make sense or will be incomplete.

A Picture book is meant to be read out loud, so write them with that in mind. In fact, read them out loud and make sure they read well, have a good flow and sound great.

Picture books exist for different age groups from age 0 to 8, so you'll see it a few times below.

Age 0 to 4 years-board and soft picture books

**Note: I cite many examples in this article.

You can enlarge the thumbnails on each book's page and/or use the "Look Inside"

function to get a better look at these books.**

Board books for babies and toddlers are shorter with lots of full-color illustrations. These can be story, or concept or novelty books.

Concept books can deal with almost any subject. These books teach factual information with illustrations and text (often single words). Common concepts covered are shapes, body parts, colors, spatial relationships, counting, the alphabet, opposites, and animals.

Novelty books are books with pop-ups, flaps to lift, textures or buttons for sound, or with pages that fold out like a concertina.

Board books are commonly 12 to 16 pages and word count is under 200 words for babies and 500 words or fewer for toddlers.
Story board book examples
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

The Pout-Pout Fish byDeborah Diesen
Soft book examples (fabric or plastic)
Smart Novelty Soft Cloth Books for Babies and Toddlers
Concept board book examples
My First Books Set of 4 Baby Toddler Board Books
Novelty and interactive board book examples
Little Shark: Finger Puppet Book by Klaartje van der Put

Age 2 to 5 years-early picture books

A Picture book for kids aged 2 to 5 years can have up to 800 words, but it's best to aim for under 500 words. These books average 32 pages and have lots of full-color illustrations (usually on every page).

The most common types of picture books are story (or fiction), concept, activity, and novelty picture books. These can overlap (for instance, a book can be a concept and a novelty picture book). These can also be written in rhyme.
Story picture book examples C oncept book examples Activity book examples
These books are interactiveand require the child to color, draw, do puzzles or quizzes, or write, for older children.

by Herve Tullet

My First Toddler Coloring Book: Fun with Numbers, Letters, Shapes, Colors, and Animals! by Tanya Emelyanova
Novelty book examples
Age 5 to 8 years-picture books

Picture books for 5- to 8-year-olds can have up to 1000 words, lots of full-color illustrations and a strong story.

Novelty and activity books are also common, with activities suitable for this age group.

Story picture book examples

Where the Wild Things Are byMaurice Sendak

Age 4 to 8 years-Early (or Easy) readers

Classified as early readers, this age group is a step up from picture books. The best books for this age group are short with lots of illustrations. Word count can range from 1000 to 3000 words.

Short books often come in a series to enable kids to devour one after another. This helps them build their reading skills.

Age 6 to 9 years-chapter books

After short books, we have chapter books. Like short books, they also often come in series, but the word count is higher: 5,000 to 10,000 words per book.

These books usually contain sketches and not full-color illustrations.

Unicorn Academy #1: Sophia and Rainbow by Julie Sykes

Age 9 to 12 years-middle grade

Middle graders want books with an advanced story and prose. At this age, readers have advanced readers skills. As such, they can read books with 30,000 to 50,000 words per book.

These books have fewer or sometimes no illustrations.

Age 12 to 18 years - young adult

YA books are sometimes divided into two age groups, which are 12 to 15 and 16 to 18. An interesting point to note, though, is that about 50% of YA readers are adults.

The typical word count falls between 50,000 to 80,000 words.

Nonfiction

There are nonfiction books for all age groups. These include biographies, autobiographies, books on countries, animals, history and other factual information. These are often illustrated or contain photos.

Nonfiction publications frequently have a higher word count than their fiction counterparts for the same age group.
2- to 5-year-olds 6- to 9-year-olds Middle Grade
5,000 Awesome Facts (About Everything!) by National Geographic Kids
YA
Are you excited to dive into age groups now that you know more about them?

Choosing an age group is a big step in your journey and has a lot to do with the success of your book. I hope this article has been a great help!

The best advice I can give is to look at many books in the age group(s) you are interested in. Get familiar with their topics, how they're written, laid out and illustrated. This is the best way to learn.

If you are writing for any of the younger age groups, having the right illustrations is critical. We'd love to help you with this step of your author journey. If you'd like, have a look at our portfolio here. Or schedule a call if you want to chat or have some questions!
I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

1. Books for which age groups are your favorite?

2. Have you chosen an age group for your writing? Which one?

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Understanding children's books age groups

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In working with a lot of self-publishing authors, I've seen some confusion on more than one occasion about children's books age groups. Here is what you need to know, Including genres, word counts, and lots of examples!

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(i don't know why it has david attenborough as the cover lol??) worth putting in presentation because it relates to the sdgs!!

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Every individual, company and organisation must consider the role they have to play in combating the climate emergency.

As a publisher, our most important role is through the books we publish and their power to change minds and behaviour. We have a proud history of publishing vital and wide-ranging content in this space, from globally renowned thinkers like Naomi Klein and David Wallace-Wells , to books which help people make practical changes in everyday life. More recently we have established a dedicated environmental publishing imprint with David Attenborough, Witness Books.

Alongside our role as a publisher, it's also vital that we consider how we can innovate and improve to reduce the environmental impact of our own operations.

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Every individual, company and organisation must consider the role they have to play in combating the climate emergency. As a publisher, our most important role is through the books we publish and their power to change minds and behaviour.

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heidi: rebecca green 'kafka and the doll' illustration process

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heidi: rebecca green 'kafka and the doll' illustration process

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from rebecca green's illustration blog- she talks through her inspirations and creative process.

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KAFKA AND THE DOLL | PICTURE BOOK PROCESS - Rebecca Green Illustration

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My favorite way to celebrate a book is by sharing the illustration process. Not only do I think it's an interesting insight, but it helps me remember all the decisions I made to get from manuscript to final. For the illustrations in Kafka and the Doll, I feel proud of the simplicity.

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heidi: anoosha syed - making a picture book

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heidi: anoosha syed - making a picture book

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kind of long but she covers a lot of ground:
- effective character design
- designing a cover
- spread composition
- colour palettes
as well as some insights into working within this sector!

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Making a Picture Book from Start to Finish