Choosing a Text for a Beginner or a Child
Every text in the Quillstead library is tagged by length (short, medium, long) and difficulty (beginner, intermediate, challenging), calculated from the text's actual word count and vocabulary rather than assigned by feel. That gives you an honest starting point instead of a guess.
For a first-time typist or a young child, start in the "short" and "beginner" range — a few concrete examples:
Each category page (Bible, Poetry, Literature, Speeches) also has a "New to this category? Start with…" suggestion at the top, pointing at the easiest text in that specific category, so you don't have to compare difficulty across the whole library yourself.
That said, difficulty labels are a starting point, not a rule. A child who already loves the story in Little Women or Peter Rabbit will often push through a text tagged "intermediate" without complaint, because interest carries them past the harder vocabulary. Difficulty measures the text; it doesn't measure the child in front of it. If a slightly harder text is one they actually want to type, let interest win.
Once a beginner text feels comfortable — finished without long pauses, accuracy in the high 90s — move one step up rather than staying at the easiest level indefinitely. The categories are built to be worked through, not just sampled from.