Reading with Dyslexia: What Helps and Where to Start

Making print easier to read involves a familiar font, suitable type size and spacing, manageable lines, and paper and colour that fit the reader's preferences. No specialised dyslexia font has a consistent proven advantage. This is general reading guidance, not medical advice. The Library of Alexandria offers larger-format print editions and shorter ways into classics; these are format and reading-length choices, without claiming they help dyslexia.

This guide covers the evidence on fonts first, followed by practical details about type size, spacing, line length, paper and colour. It then explains the library's printed formats and the separate options of short classics and 15-minute summaries.

What the evidence says about fonts

Dyslexia Scotland's guide to dyslexia-friendly typed formats is dated 12 September 2025. It advises a plain, familiar, evenly spaced font, with personal preference and suitable spacing taking priority. Arial, Verdana and Calibri are often preferred, but recent evidence shows no consistent advantage for sans-serif over serif fonts. A font's category alone therefore does not establish that it will be the best choice for an individual reader.

Specialised fonts also lack a consistent demonstrated reading advantage. Dyslexia Scotland names Dyslexie, Sassoon Primary and OpenDyslexic as options an individual may prefer, not fonts that are necessarily better than standard choices. It advises avoiding ligatures, oblique fonts and overly decorative typefaces because these can create visual crowding. Formatting can make reading easier and less tiring, but it does not fix underlying reading difficulties or replace evidence-based reading instruction.

Type size, spacing and line length

Dyslexia Scotland recommends at least 12-point type, with larger text benefiting many readers and a choice of size where possible. Its advice allows letter and word spacing to increase by about 30 to 35 percent of the font size, or according to preference. Excessive spacing can break words apart visually. Line spacing of about 1.5 times is its suggested starting point.

For line length, the recommended range is 50 to 75 characters, or about 11 to 15 words. Around 66 characters is often regarded as ideal, although shorter lines can work better for readers with dyslexia. Left alignment avoids the uneven spacing created by full justification. For material being formatted, the organisation also recommends sentences of no more than 25 words, paragraphs of no more than five lines, and key information first.

Paper and colour

Dyslexia Scotland reports that off-white or tinted backgrounds, such as cream or peach with dark text, improved reading speed compared with stark white. Individual preferences vary, so the finding does not identify one background colour for everyone. Paper finish is another part of its advice: matte, non-glossy paper reduces glare. These are separate characteristics of a printed page, alongside its type and layout.

Visual stress often occurs together with dyslexia, but Dyslexia Scotland describes it as a separate condition. That distinction matters when discussing colour preferences: a preferred background is an individual choice, not a universal feature of reading with dyslexia. The organisation's recommendations allow for different preferences in both background colour and text presentation, rather than defining one combination as suitable for every reader.

Choosing a printed book at the Library of Alexandria

The library's large print books use 8.5 × 11 inch pages, larger type and more space between the lines. Standard print editions use 6 × 9 inch pages. These are concrete differences in the physical formats: the large print format changes page dimensions as well as text presentation. The large print shelf groups that format in one place.

Any book in the library can be printed as a paperback, hardcover or large print book. Each book's page shows its available editions before ordering. The page about printed books describes the library's print options. The choice of binding and the choice of a larger page format are distinct features; the library's stated large print specifications are larger type, larger pages and additional space between lines.

Short ways into a classic

The short classics and novellas shelf gathers books that can be finished in an evening or two. Its range spans different kinds of stories: A Christmas Carol is Charles Dickens's short ghost story; The Call of the Wild is Jack London's short adventure novel; and The Time Machine is H. G. Wells's short science fiction novel. These offer choices of subject as well as length.

Every book has a 15-minute summary page, a short way to get to know it before reading it. The library's 15-minute summaries are a separate option from choosing a shorter complete work. Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a Gothic novella, while Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is a short novel. Each book's page identifies the edition on this site.

The guidance on this page comes from Dyslexia Scotland's page on dyslexia-friendly typed formats (12 September 2025), read on 24 October 2026. It is general reading guidance, not medical advice.

Keep exploring

• Large print books: what they are and how to choose
• Short classics and novellas
• 15-minute summaries