Lexiles
NoveList breaks down audience levels by age, however reading abilities and interests vary widely within a specific age group. Lexile numbers are another way to measure the reading level of a book. You can use Lexiles to find books that are at an appropriate level of difficulty for your child or student.
The Lexile Text Measure
The Lexile scale ranges from below 200 for beginning reader material to above 1700 for advanced text. TheLexile Text Measureindicates the reading demand of the text in terms of semantic difficulty (word frequency) and syntactic complexity (sentence length).
Grade Level / If Reader Measures / Text Measure (Lexile Range)1 / up to 300L / 200L to 400L
2 / 140L to 500L / 300L to 500L
3 / 330L to 700L / 500L to 700L
4 / 445L to 810L / 650L to 850L
5 / 565L to 910L / 750L to 950L
6 / 665L to 1000L / 850L to 1050L
7 / 735L to 1065L / 950L to 1075L
8 / 805L to 1100L / 1000L to 1100L
9 / 855L to 1165L / 1050L to 1150L
10 / 905L to 1195L / 1100L to 1200L
11-12 / 940L to 1210L / 1100L to 1300L
How to Use Lexile Numbers in NoveList
Here is an example of a search in NoveList using Lexile numbers.
A father whose twelve-year old son is a reluctant reader but has read and enjoyed Brian Selznick'sThe Invention of Hugo Cabretcould use NoveList Plus to discover thatThe Invention of Hugo Cabrethas a Lexile rating of 820.
This father could then enter “820” in the Lexile Range Search limiter at the Advanced Search page to retrieve only titles that are within his son's reading ability.
Note: Lexile's creators recommend one hundred points below, and fifty points above, the rating of 820. Doing a search of a Lexile range of 720-870 for books with twelve-year-old boys as characters retrieves great suggestions.
Although Lexiles can assist you in finding titles by addressing their readability, these titles may not be appropriate for the intended audience or maturity level. In NoveList Plus you can perform a search for all book titles within a certain Lexile range, as well as one that also restricts the results to a particular reading level. Do this by first selecting a Lexile range, and then selecting an audience level (under “Limit your results”).
Learn More About Lexile Numbers
Learn more about how to equate Lexile scores to reading levels by reading the FAQ athttp://www.lexile.com.
The Lexile codes are:
· AD: Adult Directed
· NC: Non-Conforming
· HL: High-Low
· IG: Illustrated Guide
· GN: Graphic Novel
· BR: Beginning Reading
· NP: Non-Prose