Wondering How Many Pages in a Children’s Book?
By amy wilson
editor and writing teacher.
Wondering how many pages in a children's book? This is a very popular question, with a pretty complex answer. When you’re writing a children's book, it is important to consider the age range of the intended audience and the genre of the book.
For example, picture books are designed to be read by an adult to a child, and they should have short text with a universal theme that is approachable and resonates with your target audience. Chapter books, on the other hand, are written for children who are becoming fluent readers and should contain a plot with setbacks and conflict. They feel “bigger” and more juicy in terms of plot.
Let’s go over some guidelines for how many pages in a children's book, and we’ll give you some other considerations as well.
Is “How Many Pages in a Children's Book?” Even the Right Question?
In the publishing industry, we usually speak in terms of word count rather than page count, because the length of the text is important. Formatting can change the number of pages, but the number of words is a hard fact. Picture book word count should be 500 words or fewer, while easy readers and beginning readers should have 750 to 1,500 words. Chapter books should have between 4,000 to 10,000 words, and middle grade novels should have between 15,000 to 60,000 words.
Still, How Many Pages in a Children's Book?
Board books are generally 10 pages or fewer. Picture books are typically 32 pages long, and early readers are usually between 32 and 64 printed pages. Chapter books can range from 48 to 100 pages. Middle grade novels, which are aimed at readers aged 8 to 12, can easily get into 200 to 300 pages. But if you want to imagine how many pages in a children's book, be careful to note that the above are printed pages, rather than manuscript pages. Even if a picture book has 32 pages of printed material, sometimes the manuscript for one can be a single Word document page.
Although word count is the default measuring stick, rather than page count, there are still some guidelines for how many pages in a children's book. As with theme, language, and scope of story, the page count for each type of book varies depending on the age range of the intended audience.
If you’re wondering how many pages in a children's book are too many or too few, read widely in your genre so you get a sense for what is being published currently. You can certainly experiment with how many pages in a children's book, but the children's book publishing industry tends to be pretty rigid in terms of these guidelines. If you stick to them, that’s working smarter, not harder.
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