Early Readers

I had a friend ask me yesterday about recommendations for early readers for her 4-year-old who is starting to read. I figured I'd do a post about that to share some of the best resources I've found. I know a lot of people use Bob books, and they work well for tons of people. I actually don't really like Bob books that much for me and Emmeline. (I feel like the character names and story lines revolve around their word/sound bank rather than making stories that are interesting or engaging.) After Emmeline became interested in basic reading, I started her on some leveled Guided Reading readers. I used these (click link). Those books are very repetitive, and the child can use the pictures to decipher the unknown words. It works on sight word recognition and helps your child gain confidence in reading. It doesn't work as much on sounding out words. To help Emmeline learn the principle of sounding out, I used Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons (click link). I never ended up finishing that book because I feel like she caught on super well and became more interested in just reading regular books on her own and kept improving that way.

Anyway, here are some great resources for early readers if your child is already starting to read and has some background. I really think every child learns differently, so it's good to scope out some different options (especially at the library) to see what engages your child best and go from there. I just did this post in one sitting, so I may add more to this later if I think of more. :)

• Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Williams: These are some of the best books ever. Emmeline loved them when she was a toddler and preschooler, and then when she started reading, I realized they were easy readers! They are great because Emmeline learned how to read with expression from these books because the characters have a lot of animation and emotion. Mo Willems's Pigeon books are also great and can be early readers--maybe after you've read it to your kid a time or two so they can use familiarity with the book to help them. I really like Mo Willems's books too because they are good literature. (As an author, he was won Caldecott Honors and Theodor Seuss Geisel awards.)
• Biscuit books by Alyssa Satin Capucilli: These books have lots of sight words, animals sounds, repetition, etc. Emmeline has always liked these books, so they were some of the first ones she tried out reading on her own. It's best to look for the ones that say "My First I Can Read Book" on the cover. They are simpler than some of the others.
• Starfall books: If you're looking for a free option just to see what your kid can do or is interested in, you can print/cut PDF books from Starfall's website (click link). (Scroll down to "Level-I: Cut-Up/Take-Home Books.") These aren't anything special, but they are simple and can help your child find success with reading.
• Phonic readers: We had given to us a Hello Kitty "phonics reading program" set. I don't know if these books are super great really, but Emmeline loves them. And sometimes, your kid loving an early reader set is more important than how "good" of literature it is or how well it teaches. There are lots of phonic reader sets on amazon (Star Wars, princesses, Little Critter, Fancy Nancy, Batman, Pinkalicious, etc.) So if you're trying to engage a child in reading who is maybe not super interested, I think these are a good way to go.
• Rookie Readers: I got a bunch of Rookie Readers from the thrift store. I think they are great early readers, but on Amazon, they cost like $4.95 each for a little paperback....which seems a little steep. But if you can find some kind of deal or get them from the library, these are fun because there are so many with different topics. We have ones called Car Wash Kid, Bugs, Firehouse Sal, etc.
• Pictureback Readers: These may be hard to come across. They say "A Pictureback Reader" at the top. I have a few (one from my childhood and two I got at thrift stores), and I love them. I have Wait for Us, Mud, and The Prince Has a Boo-Boo. I saw some are on amazon used, so maybe they're possible to find. But they are engaging and funny stories with a limited number of words used in each book. I found that some of the copies I have are now available in a newer version--Mud is a "Hello Reader" in Scholastic, and The Prince Has a Boo-Boo is available in the "I'm Going to Read" series. So these options (especially the "I'm Going to Read" books) may be good alternatives to "Pictureback Readers."
• Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman books: This is the obvious answer, but these are really good ones. Emmeline really loved Go, Dog, Go when she first started reading. She also liked Are You My Mother?, Ten Apples Up On Top, Green Eggs and Ham, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. I never really got her into The Cat in the Hat or Hop on Pop, but those could be good ones as well. On these Dr. Seuss type books, you can look for the key words on the cover: "I Can Read it All By Myself." Some of these books say instead, "Bright and Early Books for Beginning Beginners." Some of those are great early readers (like 6 Sticks), but some are a little more complicated.
• Berenstain Bear books: The regular Berenstain bear books are quite long, but there are some stories that are short and are more of early readers. Some ones we have liked are The Spooky Old Tree, Bears in the Night, and Inside Outside Upside Down.