The Hillsdale Library does not place “leveled” reading stickers on our children’s books beyond that of traditional broad categories. Our collections are arranged into board books, picture books, easy readers, early chapter books, and chapter books.
The Marketing Manager for Fountas and Pinnell, the creator’s of one of the more widely used leveling systems, has cautioned against the improper use of the leveling system in a blog post “A Level is a Teacher’s Tool, not a Child’s Label.” It is worth a read. He specifically cautions:
Fountas and Pinnell created the F&P Text Level Gradient ™ to be used as a teacher’s tool for assessment and instruction. The levels aren’t meant to be shared with the children or parents.
Furthermore, an interview with Fountas and Pinnell was published by School Library Journal. They quite specifically state that their system should not be used as a labeling system in either a school or public library. They believe that ” the librarian is such a key person in the school in guiding students according to their interests, not their levels.”
However, to assist parents seeking books according to the Scholastic “BookWizard” (Fountas-Pinnell system), we have created links into the catalog for each level.