Any suggestions for a font for a children's book -- a novel for ca. 12
year-olds?

I like Garamond for adult fiction, I was thinking something similar
but larger x-height. But any suggestions entertained.

Thanks.

Alan wrote:

> Any suggestions for a font for a children's book -- a novel for ca. 12
> year-olds?
> 
> I like Garamond for adult fiction, I was thinking something similar
> but larger x-height. But any suggestions entertained.
> 
> Thanks.

Trite but reliable old standby: Century Schoolbook. If you want appeal 
to the sense of sophistication that a 12-year-old has and get away from 
that "little kid's" font, you could go with Bookman Old Style--still 
traditional for juvenile literature.

Dick Margulis <margulisd@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<10kdiuqdtk7gh7f@news.supernews.com>...
> Alan wrote:
> 
> > Any suggestions for a font for a children's book -- a novel for ca. 12
> > year-olds?
> > 
> > I like Garamond for adult fiction, I was thinking something similar
> > but larger x-height. But any suggestions entertained.
> > 
> > Thanks.
> 
> Trite but reliable old standby: Century Schoolbook. If you want appeal 
> to the sense of sophistication that a 12-year-old has and get away from 
> that "little kid's" font, you could go with Bookman Old Style--still 
> traditional for juvenile literature.

Oddly, I'd thought of those two. (There was a time when I was limited
to the Laserwriter fonts, and I used them all at one time or another.)

Any slightly more exotic suggestions? Ideally also not so fat, though
still with a good x-height.

Alan wrote:

> Dick Margulis <margulisd@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<10kdiuqdtk7gh7f@news.supernews.com>...
> 
>>Alan wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Any suggestions for a font for a children's book -- a novel for ca. 12
>>>year-olds?
>>>
>>>I like Garamond for adult fiction, I was thinking something similar
>>>but larger x-height. But any suggestions entertained.
>>>
>>>Thanks.
>>
>>Trite but reliable old standby: Century Schoolbook. If you want appeal 
>>to the sense of sophistication that a 12-year-old has and get away from 
>>that "little kid's" font, you could go with Bookman Old Style--still 
>>traditional for juvenile literature.
> 
> 
> Oddly, I'd thought of those two. 

Not odd at all. That's the thing about making conventional choices ;-)

(There was a time when I was limited
> to the Laserwriter fonts, and I used them all at one time or another.)
> 
> Any slightly more exotic suggestions? Ideally also not so fat, though
> still with a good x-height.

When you say "not so fat," are you referring to stem thickness or set width?

As for choosing something more exotic, maybe that's not exactly what you 
mean. I think you really do _not_ want 12-year-olds exclaiming over the 
originality of your font choice; you really want them to read and 
comprehend the novel, right? So perhaps you meant to suggest selecting 
something less commonly used than my original clich� suggestions.

In that case, any good readable text font that is suitable for the paper 
and the printing technology you plan to use would work fine. You might 
take a look at ITC New Baskerville, one of the Caslons, or any of the 
Scotch romans--Miller Text being the latest and greatest rendition in 
that category.

However, there have been probably a dozen threads in the last year about 
good, readable text fonts, and I haven't even scratched the surface of 
what has been suggested by others in those threads. So you might want to 
Google 'em up and have a look-see.

When you find a group of fonts that tickle your fancy, set some sample 
pages, using a range of setting parameters, and print some page proofs, 
using the technology and paper that you plan to use for the final 
production. You may find that one font is too heavy and another too 
light for the particular circumstances. So this will simplify the 
selection process.

Dick Margulis <margulisd@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<10kea8eg906b4b7@news.supernews.com>...
> Alan wrote:
> 
> > Dick Margulis <margulisd@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<10kdiuqdtk7gh7f@news.supernews.com>...
> > 
> >>Alan wrote:
> >>>Any suggestions for a font for a children's book -- a novel for ca. 12
> >>>year-olds?
> >>>
> >>>I like Garamond for adult fiction, I was thinking something similar
> >>>but larger x-height. But any suggestions entertained.

> > Any slightly more exotic suggestions? Ideally also not so fat, though
> > still with a good x-height.
> 
> When you say "not so fat," are you referring to stem thickness or set width?

Set width. Too few words/line or page and too many pages with Bookman
or New Century on the fairly small page (5x8").

> As for choosing something more exotic, maybe that's not exactly what you 
> mean. I think you really do _not_ want 12-year-olds exclaiming over the 
> originality of your font choice; you really want them to read and 
> comprehend the novel, right? So perhaps you meant to suggest selecting 
> something less commonly used than my original clich� suggestions.

"More exotic" in comparison with Times and Bookman & co. Which isn't
very exotic; as mentioned I generally use Adobe Garamond for fiction.
What used to be conventional, but these days people tend to think MS
Office is the standard. So no sans, distressed fonts etc. I've had
suggestions to set books in Arial in all seriousness.
 
> In that case, any good readable text font that is suitable for the paper 
> and the printing technology you plan to use would work fine. You might 
> take a look at ITC New Baskerville, one of the Caslons, or any of the 
> Scotch romans--Miller Text being the latest and greatest rendition in 
> that category.

These are more what I was looking for. Thanks.

Alan wrote:
Any suggestions for a font for a children's book -- a novel for ca. 12
year-olds? 
--------------------------------------------------
Century Old Style might be a good choice.

Bill