Books for Your Earliest Readers
Books for Teaching Word Families:
As we’ve discussed in the Articles on Word Families, word families are a great way to get your students started reading successfully as they learn spelling patterns in our language.Below are a few of my favorite books that allow students to begin reading on a positive note:
"Easy Phonics Readers" by Teacher Created Materials, Inc.Gail’s Paint Pail
Duke the Blue Mule
My Old Gold Boat
Skate, Kate, Skate!
Mice on Ice
Small, inexpensive books like these are also effective resources for teaching word families. I highly recommend them.
Some of Dr. Seuss’ Best Books for Early Readers:
Hop on Pop
Green Eggs and Ham
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
The Cat in the Hat
After forty years, these books are still absolutely delightful. Most of the books I discuss on this page don’t flow in a musical, natural way, but most of Dr. Seuss’ books are to the contrary, a pleasure to read over and over.
Hello Reader Phonics Fun Series
Space Race
Boom Zoom
The Red Hen
The Three Wishes
Scholastic has done a fine job of creating books that tell a story while teaching word families with most of these books. A few are rather stilted in the flow of language, but children seem to enjoy them anyway.
Reading A-Z
This economical source of downloadable books includes a whimsical collection of rhyming leveled readers and fun nursery rhymes. When poetry is read aloud, children listen for rhyming patterns, and build important phonological awareness skills. This charming collection also exposes children to poetry and helps them gain an appreciation for this important genre.
Bob Books
I’m not crazy about these books—the illustrations and flow of language are less than artistic. But I do use them and recommend them.
It’s important for students to have lots of easy books that they can finish quickly, and these books fit the bill perfectly. Students can feel pride as they progress quickly from book number one to book number two, to number three, and so on. These books are affordable, which is an important consideration in a program that uses many books briefly before moving on to others.
Reproducible Books
Decodable Little Books: 20 Reproducible Little Books for Short Vowel SoundsAs I’ve stated above, a good reading program can use lots of inexpensive books. These fit the bill while they do a good job of teaching word families. Reproducible books also have the advantage that children may color them and keep them at home. More reproducible books can be found on Books on a Budget.
Reading A-Z has 58 downloadable systematic phonics lessons with decodable books to teach the sound-symbol relationships. This comprehensive resource offers varied ways to teach phonics to your early emerging readers. In addition to lessons and decodable books, it has downloadable read-aloud and sound/symbol books, worksheets, flashcards, as well as high-frequency word books.
Books that Use Alliteration
See our articles on Using Alliterative Songs to Teach Letter Sounds and Books With Rhyme, Alliteration, and Other Word Play. The books suggested by Nancy Schimmel and Fran Avni in the these articles are fun for both children and adults.Books like The Berenstain’s "B" Book and The Berenstain’s "C" Book have many words that begin with the same letter or letter group. While many people find them fun and useful, I rarely use them. They sound like tongue twisters to me, so I tend to avoid them. But I don’t mean to pick on the Berenstain’s books, because I do use and enjoy their non-alliterative stories. I’ve listed just a few of my favorites near the bottom of this page.
Reading A-Z also provides inexpensive Read-Aloud Books (Listed about halfway down their page.) that allow children to focus on one letter sound at a time.
Books that Incorporate Music
Parents and teachers have always known how music enhances the learning process. Recent studies in the field of education confirm the effectiveness of teaching with song.May There Always Be Sunshine by Jim Gill
Other Picture-Song Storybooks
Picture-Song Storybooks I Including Expository, Traditional, and Raffi Songs
Picture-Song Storybooks II Including Pop-Up Books and Motown Songs Picture-Song Storybooks III Songs for Babies and Toddlers
Books that are just plain fun and easy to read:
Inside Outside Upside Down by Stan Berenstain and Jan BerenstainGo, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman
A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer
The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
No, David! by David Shannon
Books like these are easy to read because there are few words on each page and there’s a great deal of repetition. Many other books also have these qualities, and I encourage you to use them liberally.
