How to choose the right reading level
Age is what everyone sorts books by, and age does not measure reading. This film shows how every story in the library is scored by the SESL© algorithm and mapped to CEFR, and how to filter by level, age and theme to find something your child can actually read.
Subtitles
The film is in English. Read along in your language — or switch subtitles off.
Every parent asks the same question.
Can my child actually read this?
The book says ages five to eight.
Somebody decided that.
Nobody will say how.
Age is what everyone sorts by.
Age does not measure reading.
Two eight-year-olds can be two reading
years apart, both perfectly normal.
A teacher has thirty of them, and one shelf.
So we measure instead.
Every story is chosen by a person, then scored by our SESL©
algorithm, and mapped to CEFR — Pre-A1 through B2.
Nothing about your child.
Everything about the words.
The Story Library.
Reading level and age sit on the same button — start with whichever you know.
Above it, the SESL© score itself —
a hundred-plus measurements of the text, in five bands.
It is the one we would use.
Twelve themes, and filters stack — so you can ask
for something easy, and brave, and full of animals.
Every card carries its score, level and age.
Before you open it.
Less romantic than a bookshop.
Considerably better informed.
Browse the library at storysparkle-dot-org.
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1:33How to check if a text is the right level
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