The 5 Finger Rule of Choosing the Just Right Books

Good readers are somehow good writers and speakers too. I have seen this with most of my students over the years. Even with me, the books I read somehow have a direct impact on the way I speak and write. Just now, while reading “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” for a book discussion with my kids, I found myself using Question Tags and words used in British English while I was writing too.

But sometimes we don’t read books because we find the language of the book too difficult or too easy. To put it simply, we just don’t enjoy them. Choosing the “just right book” for ourselves can be quite tricky.

Here’s a process you can follow to help you pick up a book that’s neither too easy for you that you get bored, not too challenging that you can’t comprehend it. (Refer to the picture above)

However, do ensure that you don’t keep reading books that don’t challenge you at all. The whole idea is to keep becoming a better reader by increasing our understanding of difficult books too. So every now and then, do select a book that challenges you somewhat.

As you are in the process of choosing a book for yourself, it is also important you choose a book which you will enjoy the content of. Here’s a previous blog post to help you pick a book with interesting content.