Real Big Stories

Real Big Stories Observatory

The children
and the stories
their parents choose.

2,193 books ordered by parents, 19 worlds, 3,493,817 words of stories analyzed.

79.4%

of child heroes are under six years old

Chapter 1 — age

The hero is a little one.

Parmi les 2 188 enfants dont l’âge du héros est renseigné, l’âge de 3 ans est le plus représenté, avec 18,7 %. Les âges inférieurs à six ans regroupent 79,4 % de ces enfants ; la répartition varie d’un âge à l’autre et ne suit pas une progression continue.

Age distribution of child heroes
AgeChildrenShare
Under 1 year914.2%
1 year38317.5%
2 years34916%
3 years41018.7%
4 years29513.5%
5 years2099.6%
6 years1496.8%
7 years944.3%
8 years653%
9 years572.6%
10 years522.4%
Other341.6%

Chapter 2 — worlds

What sparks the imagination, ranked by preference.

Parmi les 1 593 enfants dont l’univers choisi est connu, Monde des Fées occupe la première place, avec 19,8 % des choix. Ferme des Animaux et Forêt des Animaux se situent à des niveaux proches, tandis que les autres univers présentés se répartissent à des niveaux plus bas.

  1. 01The Fairy Realm19.8%
  2. 02Down on the Farm9.7%
  3. 03The Animal Forest9%
  4. 04Dino Kingdom8.5%
  5. 05Superheroes6.8%
  6. 06Pirate Island6.3%
  7. 07Zoom Zoom Vehicles4.6%
  8. 08The Magic Snuggle3.7%
  9. 09My Cosy Nest3.6%
  10. 10The Four Seasons3.3%
  11. 11Dungeons & Dragons3%
  12. 12Tiny Dinos2.6%
  13. 13Time Machine Adventure2.4%
  14. 14The Big Investigation2.3%
  15. 15The Magic Circus2.1%
  16. 16Virtual Reality2.1%
  17. 17The Magic Academy2%
  18. 18A World of Colour1.7%
  19. 19The Academy of Secrets1.4%
  20. 20Other5.1%

Chapter 3 — by age group

What sparks the imagination isn't the same from one age group to the next.

Chez les tout-petits, parmi les 568 enfants dont l’univers est renseigné, la Ferme des Animaux est l’univers le plus souvent choisi. En âge préscolaire comme en âge scolaire, le Monde des Fées arrive en tête, tandis que les autres univers se répartissent à des niveaux plus bas. Ces constats portent, dans chaque tranche, uniquement sur les enfants dont l’univers a été renseigné.

Chosen worlds — 0-2 years

  1. 01Down on the Farm26.9%
  2. 02Zoom Zoom Vehicles12.9%
  3. 03The Fairy Realm12%
  4. 04The Magic Snuggle10.4%
  5. 05My Cosy Nest10%
  6. 06The Four Seasons9.3%
  7. 07Tiny Dinos7.2%
  8. 08A World of Colour4.8%
  9. 09Other6.5%

Chosen worlds — 3-5 years

  1. 01The Fairy Realm25.5%
  2. 02The Animal Forest20.6%
  3. 03Dino Kingdom16.2%
  4. 04Superheroes14.9%
  5. 05Pirate Island10.5%
  6. 06The Magic Circus4.8%
  7. 07Dungeons & Dragons3.9%
  8. 08Other3.5%

Chosen worlds — 6-8 years

  1. 01The Fairy Realm30.2%
  2. 02The Magic Academy13.8%
  3. 03The Big Investigation11.6%
  4. 04Pirate Island10.3%
  5. 05Dungeons & Dragons9.1%
  6. 06Virtual Reality8.6%
  7. 07Other16.4%

Chapter 4 — passions

Animals, far ahead of everything else.

Parmi les 1 893 enfants pour lesquels au moins une passion a été renseignée, les animaux arrivent en tête, avec 44,8 %. La musique suit avec 30,1 %, tandis que la lecture et le dessin sont à des niveaux proches. Les autres passions présentées se répartissent à des niveaux plus bas.

  1. 01Animaux44.8%
  2. 02Musique30.1%
  3. 03Lecture22.8%
  4. 04Dessin22.6%
  5. 05Danse19.6%
  6. 06Vélo16.8%
  7. 07Football11.6%
  8. 08Cuisine8.4%
  9. 09Chant7.7%
  10. 10Natation6.9%
  11. 11Jardinage6.1%
  12. 12Pâtisserie4.7%
  13. 13Gymnastique4.3%
  14. 14Dinosaures4%
  15. 15Lego4%
  16. 16Jeux vidéo3.6%
  17. 17Astronomie3%
  18. 18Basket2.8%
  19. 19Licornes2.6%
  20. 20Piscine2.3%
  21. 21Tennis2%
  22. 22Karaté1.8%
  23. 23Magie1.2%

These shares don't add up to 100%: a single child can be associated with several passions.

Chapter 5 — the stories

What goes into a custom-made story.

Les 2 176 livres analysés réunissent 3 493 817 mots et sont découpés en 29 663 chapitres. Chaque livre compte en moyenne 1 606 mots, tandis que la longueur centrale des livres est inférieure à cette moyenne. Les chapitres sont nettement plus courts que les livres, avec des phrases brèves, et la lecture à voix haute d’un livre entier dure peu de temps.

1,606

words per book on average

7.9

words per sentence

12 min

of reading aloud (based on 130 words/minute)

2,176

books analyzed

29,663

chapters

118

words per chapter on average

Chapter 6 — length by age

The growth isn't steady, but length really does double between ages eight and nine.

Parmi les âges présentés, les livres commandés pour un enfant de 1 an sont les plus courts, avec en moyenne 1 038 mots, tandis que ceux commandés pour un enfant de 9 ans sont les plus longs parmi les âges présentés, avec 5 089 mots en moyenne. L’ordre de grandeur change à partir de cet âge, mais l’évolution ne suit pas une progression continue d’un âge à l’autre. La longueur des livres commandés dépend aussi du format choisi par le parent, notamment du nombre de chapitres, et pas seulement de l’âge de l’enfant.

  1. Under 1 year1,172 words
  2. 1 year1,038 words
  3. 2 years1,055 words
  4. 3 years1,326 words
  5. 4 years1,337 words
  6. 5 years1,384 words
  7. 6 years2,234 words
  8. 7 years2,080 words
  9. 8 years2,441 words
  10. 9 years5,089 words
  11. 10 years5,030 words

Chapter 7 — the words

The words that come up most often.

Ce chapitre, seul de la page, porte sur les livres écrits en français, tandis que les autres portent sur l’ensemble des commandes, toutes langues confondues. Parmi les livres écrits en français, hors mots-outils et hors mots correspondant au prénom d’un enfant du corpus, « doucement » est le mot le plus fréquent ; le classement fait aussi ressortir de nombreux mots liés aux gestes et aux parties du corps. Ces mots sont ceux de ces histoires précises et ne permettent pas de caractériser la littérature jeunesse en général.

2,146

books written in French

3,426,594

words analyzed in these books

33,983

distinct vocabulary words

This chapter is the only one on this page to focus solely on books written in French. A word ranking mixing several languages wouldn't rank anything meaningfully: "the most frequent word" would just be the winner of a comparison between vocabularies that never actually meet. Every other figure on this page covers all orders.

  1. 01doucement14,814
  2. 02regarde14,269
  3. 03yeux11,945
  4. 04main9,207
  5. 05mains8,319
  6. 06bras8,068
  7. 07pose7,936
  8. 08tête7,673
  9. 09fort6,425
  10. 10lumière5,571
  11. 11air5,353
  12. 12lève4,989
  13. 13eau4,845
  14. 14arrête4,724
  15. 15rouge4,720
  16. 16souffle4,720
  17. 17doux4,687
  18. 18doigts4,463
  19. 19ouvre4,363
  20. 20sourit4,264
  21. 21sol4,186
  22. 22serre4,108
  23. 23bleu4,001
  24. 24bois3,867
  25. 25porte3,861
  26. 26cœur3,844
  27. 27ciel3,795
  28. 28attend3,779
  29. 29bruit3,721
  30. 30glisse3,697

Chapter 8 — dedications

What parents write on the first page.

Parmi les 2 193 livres commandés, 84 % comportent une dédicace. Pour les livres commandés qui en comportent une, la dédicace compte en moyenne 16 mots et sa longueur centrale est de 11 mots. Parmi les signatures recensées, « maman et papa » est la plus souvent indiquée ; les autres se répartissent à des niveaux plus bas.

84%

of books include a dedication

16

words on average

1,097

different ways of signing

  1. 01maman et papa8%
  2. 02maman6.9%
  3. 03papa et maman3%
  4. 04marraine2.1%
  5. 05papa1.7%
  6. 06mamie1.5%
  7. 07mamie et papy1.2%

These shares are calculated on the 1,789 dedications that carry a signature, not on the full set of books.

Chapter 9 — first names

Nearly two names out of three are given to just one child.

Parmi les 2 193 livres commandés, 996 prénoms distincts sont renseignés. Cela correspond à 45,4 prénoms distincts pour cent livres commandés. Parmi ces prénoms, 653 sont portés par un seul enfant.

996

distinct first names

45.4

distinct first names per 100 books ordered

653

first names given to only one child

Methodology

How these figures were established.

This data covers 2,193 books actually ordered between 15 December 2025 and 8 August 2026, across all our markets. It describes no single country: 98.5% of orders come from the French-speaking market — overwhelmingly from France, but also from Belgium, Switzerland and other French-speaking countries — and the rest is spread across 5 other markets. The sample is therefore largely French-speaking, and should not be read as representative of any one country, nor of all the markets it covers. The corpus analyzed contains 3,493,817 words spread across 29,663 chapters and 2,176 books. Data as of 8 August 2026.

No individual data is published. A threshold of 20 governs what is shown: every published row is based on at least 20 observations — 20 children in the universe and passion rankings, 20 books in length-by-age and dedication signatures, 20 occurrences in the word ranking. Anything below this threshold is grouped into an “Other” row or removed from the table: which is why children aged 11 and 12 do not appear in the book length by age data.

This threshold does not make the page impossible to cross-reference, nor does it claim to. Comparing two tables — a universe in the overall ranking, the same universe in an age-band ranking — leaves a remainder that is never shown anywhere, below 20, and sometimes down to just a few units. This remainder gives a number, never an identity: the page publishes no first name, no city, no individual characteristic, no book excerpt, and no cross-reference here goes beyond two dimensions. A figure reconstructed by subtraction remains a figure — it identifies no one, and says nothing more than the choice of a story universe.

Five caveats to keep in mind before quoting these figures:

  • Text lengths partly reflect our own writing rules. A book ordered for a six-year-old contains 2,234 words on average — this is not a recommendation on what a six-year-old actually needs.
  • The word ranking and the distinct-vocabulary count are the only measures on this page calculated on a subset: the 2,146 books written in French, totaling 3,426,594 words. A frequency ranking mixing several languages would no longer rank anything meaningfully. These are therefore the words of these specific stories, not those of children's literature in general.
  • The word ranking excludes any word matching a child's first name in the corpus: publishing its frequency would indirectly reveal the frequency of our young readers' first names. Some perfectly common French words are therefore absent from it, and the ranking covers only the rest.
  • Some universes include others: the former categories “Princess & Prince,” “Art & Creativity” and “Dance & Performance” are counted under “Fairy World,” and “Animals & Nature” under “Dino Kingdom.”
  • An age band is only published if it has at least 3 distinct universes above the threshold: the « 9 years and up » band is therefore not published. A ranking where most choices fall into “Other” isn't really a ranking, and it would say more about the remaining children than about the universes.

This data is compiled by Real Big Stories, who write and print books in which the child is the hero. It may be freely quoted, provided the source is credited.