Many new authors misunderstand how children's books are grouped and classified by the publishing industry. Maryam Ahmad, Associate Publicist at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, explains there are four main categories: board books, picture books, middle-grade, and young adult. Board books, she says, are for ages 0-3, and picture books are for kindergartners up to third graders. The middle-grade and young adult categories may have some age overlap, depending on the content and focus. Per Ahmad, children's books are typically classified during the editing process when the content is reviewed and the reading level is determined. Even if a book is labeled as 13+ or young adult in the editing process, it may get additional classifications if it can also be read by upper middle-grade readers, for example.