Oxford Reading Tree books. Are they are good? Please recommend books for a 5-year-old.

[Octavia09]

My DS is almost 5. He cannot read yet but he is interested in spellings. He likes the following books:
Shark in the park
Peppa Pig
Farmyard stories
Monkey See Monkey do
Ladybird Big City Garage and other similar stories from the Ladybird.
He is interested in Mio Mao (you know cats) but we could not find any books just DVDs.

Now I want to get him something from the Book People. I have noticed that they sell Oxford Reading Tree collection of stories www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=184091

The reviews for these books are excellent but the reviews could be written by anyone; you know what I mean.

I would like to buy books because of the younger DS. I know that many people will advise to go to the library.

Many thanks!

I like Songbirds too ... for school reading scheme books ... for home stick to nice story books!

Most reading schemes have quite contrived vocabulary and are unlikely to extend a child's language capability.

They are good to a point. But all the ever seem to read in the first few years of school are ORT Books and you will soon get pissed off with Kipper, Biff and Chip and the friggin magic key - so I would hold off as long as poss as they will be used at school.

I like the Songbirds and the Usborne Phonics Collections. I can see that there is a Shark in the Park! £12.99 for 12 books is a very good price. It is much higher on Amazon. I still have to see which seller sells Songbirds by the lowest price.
Thanks!

Can anyone say anything about the Lorax by Dr. Seuss? It is written that this edition is ideal for children learning to read.

It depends what you want the books for.
If you want books to read to him, the world is your oyster. Virtually anything you find in say Waterstones for his age group will be great.

If you are wanting to teach him to read, then it becomes contentious as there are different philosophies behind different reading schemes.

DD has the ORT scheme at school. I have bought some of them for home as she gets the books so infrequently from school that she loses the momentum. I actually like the ORT ones. The stories are quite funny and dd is really amused by the illustrations. We hve some pure phonics books but I find she loose interest in them because she can't predict what the text might be from the pictures. Meg and Mog are great because the text is large and there are so many key words that she recognises or can sound out.

Don't use bed time stories as a formal learning time! Read to him, make him realize the fun you get from books, read stories that are too difficult for him to read himself...Have things like the ORTR books around if you like for hi to look at by himself, but bedtime stories are for adventure and magic and exploration, not for "learning"!

I second Robert Munsch, The Paperbag Princess is a current fave with mine. The last line has them (aged 2 and 5) in fits of giggles every time. The stories are fun to listen to - I think if your DS enjoys being read to that helps as he will naturally ask about what the words say.

Seeker, yes absolutely! I love reading proper chapter books to DD at bedtime, we've done Roald Dahl, Milly Molly Mandy,Magic Ballerina, all sorts. You definitely don't want bedtimes to be formalised reading time.

Octavia09 I LOVE The Lorax! It is a book from my childhood and DS1 (5.4) reads it now (the same copy I had that my Mum bought from the library because we had borrowed it so many times :) ). Dr Seuss is very good I find. Kidslove the nonsense element but the repitition of words/rhyming etc is great for new readers

At the moment I am reading to DS (5.6 and in Y1) Dinosaur Cove- get the set from Book people while they have it, amazing value, The Wishing Chair and the Farraway Tree.
Last year we read a LOT of My Naughty Little Sister stories and Mr Men

For him to read to me tho, we like the ORT ones. What you will have got home is a first level one, and is nothing like the Read at Home ones that go from Level 2 to Level 5.
He was doing so well with reading and wanted to read to me, but didnt know the words in the other books like Cat in the Hat, and was so upset about that. He can pick up an ORT one and read lots of it and it makes him feel really good about himself.

Its all about what you want them for really, there isnt a right or wrong (IMO) answer

We have been reading the Usborne Phonics for a week already. The DS really likes the stories and the pictures are also fun. You can develop the story by talking about the pictures. I personally do not realy like Shark in the Park as I am a fun of the one written by Nick Sharratt but DS likes it. Thank you DilysPrice for this and thanks everyone else who made an effort to reply onto my post! I really appreaciate your answers! I will need to go through the advised books again.
By the way, there is an article in the Guardian called are the best learn-to-read books? www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/sep/30/best-learn-to-read-books
The author of the article writes a lot about the Puddle Lane books. I have checked them on amazon and can say that probably they are not for my DS. What about your kids?

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