Accelerated Reader

Accelerated Reader (AR) is a system used in many schools to help support children’s reading development. Below you can find out a bit more about how AR works – and where Ransom’s books fit into it.


How does Accelerated Reader work?

AR has quizzes for (and levels assigned to) more than 180,000 books.

Students read one of the books at their level, then take a short quiz on what they’ve read. From this, they can be pointed towards more titles which are appropriate for them. (Teachers and librarians can also use quiz results to set goals, monitor students’ continued progress, and personalise lesson plans.)

As the child’s skill grows, and they complete the online tests, they can move to the next level and continue to improve their reading skill.

What are Interest Levels?

All books that are quizzed for AR are assigned an interest level. This is based on content, and indicates the age group for which a book is suitable. There are four categories:

LY = Lower Years (ages 5-8)

MY = Middle Years (ages 9-13)

MY+ = Middle Years Plus (ages 12+)

UY = Upper Years (ages 14+)

What are ATOS Book Levels?

Books are then given a book level – this is all about the difficulty of the text.

These levels are assigned to titles using the ATOS readability formula, a consistent and reliable way to measure text complexity.

A book level of 4.5 means the text could likely be read independently by a student whose reading skills are at the level of a typical fourth grader (or Year 5 student) during the fifth month of school.

What are AR points?

Finally, every title that has been quizzed for AR is given a point value. These are worked out using the difficulty of the book (ATOS readability level) and the length of the book (number of words).

Readers can earn points depending on how well they do on the quiz. For example, a reader who reads a book worth 5 points and takes a 10-question quiz will earn 5 points for 10 correct answers (100%).


Finding books for Accelerated Reader?

Schools that use AR need a range of books at each level so children can always choose books that appeal to them, whatever stage they are at with their reading.

We’re proud to say we now have over 450 titles on the AR system – and due to the nature of our high-low books, lots of these are at those hard-to-find levels. (Think MY and UY books below below 3.0!) Here’s how to get find them...

50% off Accelerated Reader Packs

We offer half-price AR Packs that give you the opportunity to shop by specific book levels.

Carefully selected to include a variety of titles, they are a quick, great value way to fill the gaps in your AR resources, with all the books labelled for AR free of charge.

We are also happy to tailor our collections to meet your schools needs – just get in touch with your requirements.

Search books by interest and book level

Our Advanced Search tool allows you to set the exact interest level(s) and book level(s) you’re after. This means you can filter our entire list to find exactly what you’re looking for.


Found a book that doesn’t have an AR level?

Due to the simple text level in some Ransom titles, not all of our books are eligible for Accelerated Reader. This is because they are too low level to have enough content to quiz.

Some of our books may also currently be in the process of being added to AR. To see the list of titles that are soon to be added, head here.

Otherwise, if a book isn’t on AR, you are able to request it. We would love to see as many Ransom titles on the system as possible, and the more requests there are, the more likely we are to achieve this!

To request a book, just head here.


Want more information?

If you have any questions about our books and packs for AR, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

And if you want to learn more about the system itself, our friends at AR would love to hear from you – just drop them an email at info@renlearn.co.uk or give them a call on +44 207184 4000.