Help and frequently asked questions

Lexiles are the global standard in reading assessment. They are unique as they are able to measure a child and a book on the same scale – ensuring the right book gets to the right child at the right time. Lexile measures are based on over 30 years of research and are the most widely adopted measure of reading level and text difficulty. Teachers and students use Lexile measures to select books at a level that will challenge students – not so difficult as to be frustrating, but difficult enough to encourage reading growth. Find out more at scholastic.co.uk/readingpro.

Lexiles will be represented by a number followed by the letter ‘L’ for Lexile. For example: 650L The number is based on computer analysis of semantic elements of whole prose text, word frequency and sentence length. In addition, the theme, content and age-appropriateness are taken into account. Occasionally, there are more letters that appear before the number, such as HL650L. These codes are:

AD: Adult Directed

Picture books are frequently considered for an AD or “adult directed” code because they are usually read to a child, rather than a child reading them independently.

NC: Non-Conforming

The NC code is applied to books that have a Lexile measure markedly higher than is typical for the publisher’s intended audience or designated developmental level of the book.

HL: High-Low

A text designated as “HL” has a Lexile measure much lower than the average reading ability of the intended age range of its readers.

IG: Illustrated Guide

The IG code is applied to books that consist of independent pieces or sections of text such as in an encyclopedia or glossary.

GN: Graphic Novel

The GN code indicates that the book is a graphic novel or comic book.

BR: Beginning Reader

Beginning Reader (BR) is a code given to readers and text that are below 0L on the Lexile scale.

NP: Non-Prose

NP stands for Non-Prose. Some common examples of non-prose content are poems, plays, songs, recipes, and text with non-standard or absent punctuation.

If there is more than one Book Club running at your school, when parents order online they will be asked to choose which Club they would like to order from.

You should therefore give your Club a name that parents will recognise, for example, ‘Mrs Smith’s Spring Book Club’.

This is what a list of open orders might look like:

We’ll automatically check out parents’ orders that have been paid for online three days after your deadline date. If you want to get their books earlier you can always return and confirm them before this time.

Got extra school orders? Then please add them to your basket before we close it and confirm the order so that we can get all your books sent to you together. If you don’t confirm it within the three days then we’ll just send you the books parents have ordered and paid for online so that you can have chance to complete your school order in your own time.

Got an alternative delivery address? If you’d like your school group order to be sent to an address that’s different to your nursery or school address then please confirm your order within three days after the deadline date and change your delivery address as you go through the checkout.

The Book Club Organiser at your school should be able to let you know when the order is expected in. After the deadline has passed they will then need to confirm the total order and we will then deliver the books to school for them to distribute in 2-3 working days.

Many of our Book Club offers are now online-only. This is a much quicker and easier way to run a Book Club as there are no paper order forms or cash payments for schools and parents to deal with.

How an online-only Book Club works:

1. A staff member at school sets up a new Book Club order via our website.
2. Parents and children go online and browse the latest Book Club range.
3. Parents order and pay securely online.
4. The books are delivered to school for FREE.
5. Every order earns FREE BOOKS for school.

Find out more about Book Clubs