How to Choose Large Print Books for Seniors
Buying a puzzle book for someone whose eyesight isn’t what it was is harder than it looks, for one annoying reason: “large print” covers a wide range. Two puzzle books can both carry the phrase on the cover and be nothing like each other on the page. Here is how to choose a size that will actually be comfortable – without turning the gift into an awkward conversation about their eyesight.
What “large print” usually means
For books, large print is generally understood to mean 16–18 pt text – the size used in large-print library editions – against 10–12 pt for an ordinary paperback. Most published guidance, collected here, agrees on that range.
Puzzle books are a different matter. Publishers use “large print” for anything from a little above paperback text to letters an inch tall, and the phrase on the cover won’t tell you which. Look for the point size of the printed characters, then compare it with something you can hold. For puzzle books the measurement that matters isn’t the body text. It’s the letters in the puzzle grid, which is what the reader spends the whole book looking at.
How to judge the size without asking
If you would rather not make the gift about their eyesight, you don’t have to. Use something they already enjoy as your reference.
Look at what they already read comfortably. A newspaper, a large-print library book or a puzzle book already in the house is your reference point. You are looking for something at least as large, not smaller.
Notice how they hold the page. Someone reading at arm’s length, or tilting the page toward a lamp, needs larger print than they are getting.
Ask about the last book instead. “Was that one easy enough to read?” is a question about a book. “How’s your eyesight?” is a question about them. The first gets you a useful answer.
When in doubt, go larger
If you are choosing between two sizes, take the larger one. A book that is bigger than needed costs you a few puzzles per page and a slightly chunkier spine. One that is too small sits unopened, and neither of you mentions it again.
Gift buyers tend to pick the size they would find generous themselves, which is rarely the size the recipient needs.
Which of our sizes
Our word search books come in six fixed sizes, and every cover states its point size, so “large print” on a Clarence Edgehill book means a number you can check. Measured from the printed page, the capital letters come out at:
If ordinary large print (16–18 pt) has recently become hard work – 50 pt Extra Large or 60 pt Super Large. Capitals about half an inch tall (12–15 mm), close to the width of an AA battery, and three to four times the height of standard large print.
If that would still be too small – 70 pt Super XL or 80 pt Huge. Two-thirds to three-quarters of an inch (17–20 mm), about the diameter of a dime or a penny. Five times standard large print.
If you need the largest print we make – 90 pt Enormous or 100 pt Super Jumbo. Seven-eighths of an inch to a full inch (22–24 mm), about the diameter of a nickel or a quarter.
The full table, with every size against everyday objects, is in How Big Is Large Print, Really?.
If they read novels rather than puzzles
The advice above is about puzzle books, where the grid letters do the work. For prose – novels, biographies, the newspaper – “large print” usually means the 16–18 pt library standard, and public libraries stock large-print editions of most popular titles. The same rule of thumb holds: find something they already read with ease, and match or exceed it.
What else matters
Paper and contrast. Very white paper with a hard black ink is easier to distinguish than off-white with gray. Some puzzle books use light gray grid lines, which are the first thing to disappear for someone with reduced contrast sensitivity.
How crowded the grid is. A large letter in a densely packed grid can still be hard to work through. Fewer words per puzzle on a bigger grid is easier going than the reverse, whatever the point size says.
Room to write. Circling a found word needs enough space around the letters to do it without obscuring the next one.
There’s more on contrast, paper and glare in Low Vision: What to Consider.
A practical way to decide
1. Find something they currently read comfortably.
2. Choose a puzzle book with letters at least that size, preferably larger.
3. If you have no reference point at all, err toward the larger end of whatever range you are looking at.
4. Check the grid isn’t crowded and the print is a hard black on white paper.
If you get it wrong, you will usually get it wrong by going too small. To take the guesswork out, download the free size guide, print it at home (choose “Actual size” in your print settings), and hold every size we make next to something they already read.
Common questions
What size is considered large print?
For books, 16–18 pt is the generally accepted range. Puzzle books vary much more widely, so the printed point size tells you more than the phrase on the cover, and it’s the size of the letters in the grid that counts.
Does large print mean fewer puzzles?
Usually, yes. Larger letters take more space, so a large print book of the same page count holds fewer puzzles, and each puzzle has fewer words to find.
Where can I see the sizes before buying?
Print the free size guide at home – it shows every size we make at its actual printed size on regular paper – or use the size comparison tool on our homepage. Screens can’t show print sizes reliably. Paper can.