[Katrina Tangen Posts: 48 Status: Offline I write PBs! Mostly funny, sometimes rhyming.]

Are you supposed to specify the age range in picture book queries or is that optional? I’m having trouble figuring out the sub-age ranges. Are the most common 3-6 and 4-8? I know there must be an article somewhere that breaks this down, but it’s surprisingly hard to google it!

Thanks!
Katrina

[JodyJS Posts: 1,316 Status: Offline Who you gonna call? EMERGENCY KITTENS! WWW]

Hi KatrinaT,

In general, PBs go from 2-8, with the most common range being 4-8. If you're uncomfortable indicating where yours falls, maybe describe it as "for a younger/older picture book audience."

Good luck!

[dkshumaker Posts: 1,448 Status: Offline WWW]

I feel like most publishers use the 4-8 range as a target for PBs. The exception is a lot of PB bios seem to focus on slightly higher target range, more like upper elementary. So 6 - 10?

[Katrina Tangen Posts: 48 Status: Offline I write PBs! Mostly funny, sometimes rhyming.]

Ok, that’s what I was thinking—4-8 as default, 3-6 if it skews younger. And then the older nonfiction set.

Thanks for the help!

[JulieM Posts: 988 Status: Offline WWW]

As above, but I've also noticed some publishers categorize their book lists according to age, so when this happens I say where my manuscript fits into their categories.
It is so flexible - children and their reading capabilities are not "one size fits all", are they!

[Vijaya Posts: 7,172 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

when i query, i don't specify the age but a general range as jody describes and i typically have three categories, baby/toddler, younger, older pb readers. and of course, the best pbs are for grownups too.

[Katrina Tangen Posts: 48 Status: Offline I write PBs! Mostly funny, sometimes rhyming.]

Thanks!

[HaroldU Posts: 853 Status: Offline Exec. Editor, Kane Press WWW]

IMO the picture book range breaks down into a number of possible age ranges: As examples, 2-4 for concept books for the very young, 3-5 for simple PBs and bed-time books, 4-6 for "classic" picture books, 5-7 for PBs with school settings.... One handy trick is to look on Amazon for books similar to yours in themes and complexity of story and vocabulary, and see what age range they give there.

[Katrina Tangen Posts: 48 Status: Offline I write PBs! Mostly funny, sometimes rhyming.]

Thanks, Harold, that’s really helpful—just what I was looking for!