Scolded for Writing Too Much: How Long Should a Child's Book Be?

We had a call with a 10-year-old author this week, and one thing he said has stayed with me.

"I've actually been scolded by teachers for writing too much."

He is writing a fantasy trilogy. Only three chapters in, and he already has magic rules, a royal family, and a villain whose secret he is not telling anyone yet. Including us.

His first book had no editor

It is not his first book. He published one before on a platform where you upload your file and get a book back. His mum told us nobody read it, nobody proofread it, and nobody told him what was good or what could be better. His name was on the cover, but no one had really looked at what was inside.

So this time she asked us something simple: how long should a book like his actually be?

How long is a book, really?

Most parents never get a clear answer to this. Roughly, this is how publishers use the words:

• Picture book: up to about 1,500 words. The pictures do half the telling.
• Chapter book: up to about 15,000 words. Short chapters, pictures throughout.
• Novelette: 7,500 to 17,500 words. A complete story with room to breathe.
• Novella: 17,500 to 40,000 words. Subplots, a bigger cast, a slower build.
• Middle-grade novel: 30,000 words and up. Where most of the fantasy series our children love actually live.

The ranges overlap, and length is only half of it. The other half is who the book is for and how it is illustrated.

He chose the form that fits the story

What I loved was that he did not ask how to cut his story down. He looked at the list and said, okay, Book 1 is a novelette, it ends on a cliffhanger, and there are two more coming.

Too much is not a problem

A child who writes "too much" does not need to be told to stop. He needs someone to read every page and help him shape it.

That is the bit we care about most.

If there is a young writer at home with a story that keeps growing, we would love to read it. Tell us about their book.