Best learn-to-read books

[Susiewho]

DD is starting to take an interest in reading, so I've bought a few of the old Peter Jane books. Which books do you think are the best to help teach little ones to read? I'm on a budget, so can't splash out on everything I see.

Thanks very much. :)

I have used a few schemes in schools and I definitely think that the Jelly and Bean scheme is the best if your child is learning phonically. You can find it if you search online (sorry, don't know web address off hand).

Thanks NoWittyName. That's very good to know. I'll have a look at those. It's a nice website!

Are there any others that you'd recommend? I've heard people talking about Jolly Phonics, but I don't know if they're any good.

The old Ladybird Peter and Jane books are good, but will cost a lot to buy the set. Just my luck - someone on Freecycle had the set and I missed it by one person, apparently!

Thanks again. :)

I like the read, write inc here books. This is a set of the 10 books that make up the first level. There are some great 'real' books that you can use too. Like Hop on Pop, that's a good one.

We got on best with the Ladybird learn to read, quite traditional stories. you can pick up some good random ones if you are prepared to look in charity shops every so often.

Have a look at Phonics International's Teeny Reading Seeds free resources. They also do an Early Years Starter Pack.

Any book is good for teaching reading. Real books actually contain more of the 100 most high frequency words than scheme books. (Real books 51%, scheme books 48% if my memory serves me correctly) so let your child have a go at the phonetically regular words and common sight words (the ones you can't sound out) and you model how to read by reading the rest. The best place for these is your local library so it's free too!

A second recommendation for using the library, they will probably be able to get reading scheme books in for you if you wanted them but "real" books are just as good for learning to read. All for FREE (until it closes down due to lack of funding)

Our local library has a set of Read At Home books, which are great for pre-schoolers. Few phonics, lot of repetition and just one sentence per page.

I personally wouldn't buy loads of reading scheme books. I started with DS1, but they are so expensive, and when they do start reading, they outgrow them in days.

All mine started with the Red Nose Readers. Brilliant fun!!

SusieWho: You don't say how old your child is but if she is 3-4 the new JOLLY PHONICS Activity books are really appealing and will help you to understand synthetic phonics which your daughter will, most likely, be doing in school. They cost around £3.85 each - have a look at them in WHSmith or other shop that stocks Jolly Phonics. Great fun!

PHONICS INTERNATION's Teeny Reading Seeds free resources were recommended earlier. I haven't looked at them yet, but Debbie Hepplewhite's materials are well worth looking at.

And if you want to plunge straight into reading books with your daughter, with the instruction forming part of the series, have a look at:

www.piperbooks.co.uk and the Utube

This little 4 year old is typical, in that he's having such fun and enjoys the books hugely. He's slow to transfer his reading to fluency but now he's in Year 1 fluency is kicking in.

BRI books provide up to four times the
reading practice (essential!) of most other phonics story schemes. Children love the little stories in each book and being able to say "I can read a book!" ( I am prejudiced as I print the books in the UK!)