Arabic Book Leveling System
The issue of leveling Arabic children’s literature has become extremely important and urgent, as it is closely tied to students’ reading attainment. Several international criteria are used to level books, including the Spache and Flesch–Kincaid systems, which apply mathematical formulas that consider sentence length and the number of syllables per word to generate a specific score indicating the book’s level. Despite their widespread use and ease of calculation, these systems are not highly accurate because they focus solely on sentence length and word syllables, and because they cannot adequately categorize poetic stories, plays, and other literary genres that children may be interested in reading.
Regarding the leveling of Arabic children’s literature, Dr. Hanada Taha has proposed a dedicated system designed to align with the nature of the Arabic language and the literature written in it. She recommends that specialists consider the following characteristics and features:
The ten features of Hanada Taha’s leveling system are:
1. Literary genre:
It is essential to consider the literary genre when leveling books, as genres vary greatly in nature. Some, by their literary essence, pose more challenges in meaning—such as poetry—or in vocabulary, such as science fiction, or in moral takeaways, as in fables.
2. Degree of symbolism in the text:
Arabic literary writing often leans toward symbolism and embedded messages that require inference, analysis, and interpretation—elements unsuitable for beginning or early readers.
3. Vocabulary familiarity in relation to the local dialect:
Some words in Arabic children’s books are very close to the spoken dialect yet remain correct and standard (see the works of Samah Idriss and Naguib Mahfouz), which facilitates comprehension for young readers.
4. Text originality (authored vs. translated):
The volume of translated children’s literature has grown significantly, with varying levels of quality available in classrooms and libraries. Translations are often literal, which warrants careful consideration. Translated texts are generally more challenging than original Arabic texts, especially in scientific or informational books. This does not exclude the existence of translated books suitable for Level A (e.g., Desert Colors from the Arab Library series).
5. Book design and production quality:
The Arab world has recently shown increased interest in high-quality book production for children. Design and production greatly influence a book’s appeal, readability, and accessibility. Glossy pages, vivid colors, and attractive layouts support the reading process. More importantly, font size and type are critical pedagogical factors. Levels A through Z require very large and clear fonts to prevent letter confusion, ideally using highly legible Arabic scripts like Naskh. Font size may decrease as reading levels advance, but the smallest acceptable size in Arabic children's books is 14.
6. Content and ideas:
Ideas may be direct and explicit or indirect and implicit, which affects the leveling of the book. Books with indirect ideas fall under higher reading levels, as understanding them requires analyzing and inferring the author’s intentions. Arabic writing styles often feature circular structures that lack clear beginnings and endings, which can obscure the author’s intent and increase the text’s complexity. Leveling also considers whether the content and themes relate to the child’s immediate world (school, home, toys, family, pets) or lie farther from their experience (space, industries, science fiction).
7. Sentence structure:
This includes whether sentences are nominal or verbal, and more importantly, their length. Arabic children’s writing often includes long sentences without proper punctuation, causing the reader to lose track. There is a considerable difference, in leveling terms, between simple sentences such as “The sky is clear” (subject and predicate), “The sky—its stars are sparkling” (two subjects and a predicate), and complex sentences such as:
“The sky—its stars shimmering, and its moon bright—spun threads of liquid silver that spread across the universe like a luminous veil.”
There is also a difference between books with repetitive sentence structures (e.g., verb + subject, or subject + predicate) and those with diverse and varying structures from one page to another.
8. Illustrations and images:
Illustrations play a vital role in children’s books. At early levels, pictures must tell the full story independently, without requiring text. As levels progress, illustrations may become more symbolic and abstract until they gradually diminish in chapter books and nearly disappear at higher levels.
9. Diacritical markings:
Harakat (fatḥa, ḍamma, kasra, shadda, sukūn, tanwīn) assist students in reading and understanding, and thus remain essential even at relatively advanced levels. Beyond that point, diacritics are used only for words whose meaning or pronunciation would otherwise be unclear.
10. Word count:
The more non-sight words a text contains, the more challenging it becomes for the child to comprehend. Sight words support fluent reading by allowing the child to focus on meaning rather than decoding. However, word count alone is not a definitive indicator of text difficulty, as Arabic is rich in relatively short literary texts that nevertheless contain deep symbolism and philosophical concepts, making them far more complex than they appear at first glance (e.g., Qindīl Umm Hāshim at 22,400 words).
The Arab Thought Foundation has adopted this system through its Arab21 project, and, as a result, several Arab publishing houses have also adopted this leveling approach. Among them are:
Dar Al-Ilm Lilmalayin
Dar Asala
Dar Al-Hadaeq
Academia International
Dar Al-Sharq Al-Arabi
Obekan Publishing
Dar Al-Kutub Al-Haditha
Dar Al-Mu’allif
Al-Ma’arif Library
Turning Point
Arab Scientific Publishers