What reception level reading books to buy for home?

[Cazzr]

DS started reception this year and has always been interested in books.

He has loads of books at home, various levels of difficulty but I'm wondering about buying a series of books specifically for his reading level, rather than for us to read to him (we'd still do this).

He does bring home books from school, a library book of his choice once a week(no restriction at all) and a 'proper' reading book from the Collins cat range weekly it seems but had the last blinking butterfly book for 2 weeks...(currently wordless but I gather this is only temporary).

Anyway, if anyone has a recommendation for a specific range (preferably not Collins Cat as assuming he'll get these eventually) of books I'd appreciate it.
Thinking with a difficulty of about a sentence a page??

[unmumsy]

Hi there, first ever post for me!
I can recommend Ladybird read at home Level one, Gold stars, Oxford read at home and Superphonics. I got superphonics from the book people- they are a bit boring tbh but do the job.
If my daughter gets a bit dejected with it we take turns reading a line each, which has done wonders for adding some expression!

[ThePumpkinofDoomandTotalChaos]

yes, banana series are v. nice, well written, nicely illustrated, and I quite liked the ladybird superhero phonics books or the usborne level 1-4 books. also some of the younger kid picture books are good to revisit at this stage. don't spend too much though on a specific reading level, as hopefully he'll be able to read harder stuff a few months down the line. so this is where people are coming from in suggesting the library.

[NonBlondGirl]

We do use the local libraries - have done since eldest was 6 months old but the range in our current local ones is not that great. IME the quality of book available at libraries can vary wildly.


Tend to use
www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_home_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100 for cheap books - have picked up most of the classics and some brilliant newer books. They also sometimes have reading schemes for sale - we have project X which the DC do bring to be read - two youngest like them too though they don't 'read' yet.

I still find the reading chest useful - DD1 only gets a reading book once a week and one read through and she is remembering not reading. We now know she absolutely loves non fiction books - which she has never had from the school.

I'm sure using the reading chest and having lots of exciting books at home are not vital to learning to read but we think it has helped DD1 and something has enthused her and her siblings.

[Octavia09]

mrz, totally agree those piperbooks look ugly. My DS loves colours; he likes seeing beautiful pictures and listen to the stories which develop his vocabulary and his imagination.

[piscesmoon]

The most important thing that you can do is give your DC a love of books which is why the library is so wonderful. You don't want to get bogged down in decoding-just support the school.

[NoahAndTheWhale]

That was DS who skipped it rather than me. I was not as interested.

[NoahAndTheWhale]

I picked up some books for reception DD at a jumble sale - will check what they are. I mostly read them to her but she has a bit of a go too.

DS did once buy an ORT book at a school booksale as it was "one I skipped and I wanted to know what happened"

[Feenie]

Unfortunately, Malaleuca, it isn't up to you to judge whether other opinions are valid, professional or otherwise.

[pickledbabe]

I love I am Reading series, and Bananas (which come in different colours for reading difficulty)

I've got all of the major reading scheme books altogether here

I agree with what others have said, that if you choose books that are exciting stories, even if it's a series, then they will come back to them when they're confident readers.

I can't imagien anyone coming back to Biff and chip later...

(although I'm happy to be proved wrong)

[mrz]

[blowninonabreeze]

I was about to suggest reading chest.

I haven't used them yet as DD can change her books regularly with the school, but I have their site bookmarked for future use

[NonBlondGirl]

The libraries where we are do not have a good range of early learning to read range of books.

We found the www.readingchest.co.uk/
works well for us. You can pick from various schemes or have books from a lot of different schemes.

Means I can over fill the house with longer lasting books.

[Highlander]

read him some cracking books at bedtime insterad - this will enthuse him to read and improve his vocab.

DS1 (Yr 1) loves..........

How to Train Your Dragon series
Dinosaur Cove series
Dick King Smith Books
Around the World in 80 Tales (or other folklore stuff)

Force him to read by himself too much and you'll put him off.

[ragged]

Another vote here for going to public library.
We were given a load of Biff+Chip books, I have a small number of Dick + Jane readers from somewhere, plus I was loaned a lot of Rigby Rockets (my HE friends rate highly), but public library selection is as good as any of those.

[mrz]

The point is Malaleuca teachers are giving their professional opinion that buying in sets of reading scheme books to use at home isn't helpful which is why there has only been the two suggestions.

[Malaleuca]

Not at all Feenie, I was wondering when someone would describe some other set of books that OP is looking for, so far we have had Ruth Miskin, BRI from Piper, and a heap of people telling her not to bother. I'd be interested to hear what else is out there, just like the OP.

[Feenie]

What a silly reaction, Malaleuca - how very dare anyone have an opinion which involves something other than Piperbooks?

[piscesmoon]

I would just go to the library regularly-they have a huge range.

[mrz]

Malaleuca it's a forum people are allowed to voice an opinion and then the OP can make an informed choice

[Malaleuca]

Well there you go, Cazzr, all you asked for was a recommendation of a specific range with the difficulty of about a sentence a page. That's exactly what i have recommnded but seemingly everyone else on here knows better what you sshould be dong.
Strewth, I've had enough of mums net.

[mrz]

The Piper books are advertised as an early intervention (for children who are struggling?) which seems strange for children who are not even statutory school age. My problem when we looked at them is they are so unappealing looking for young children. Yes they are decodable and start very slowly but they look cheap and frankly nasty.
Personally I would never suggest parents buy scheme books for home use great stories and develop language/vocabulary while practising sounds and reading home school books.

[Feenie]

Blimey, Malaleuca, am beginning to suspect that you work for Piper books!

I don't think that parents 'need the scaffolding that a scheme provides' - other than the scheme provided by the school. I'm with hocuspontas - please leave them at school and use real books to continue developing a love of reading.

[Malaleuca]

So you have not actually used these books, and so have a limited perspective. Those who use them, and there have been hundreds of thousands over the last 30 years, tend to look back on them with great affection! I have met several parents and grandparents who have saved them in order to teach their own children to read. Many parents need the scaffolding that a 'scheme' provides. These particular books provide just that, and make the instruction simple. No prior training required!

[hocuspontas]

Have had a look, having never heard of them, and the 'See Me' one looked dreadful. Exactly what I said. Why would you ever look at this book again after you had read it once? Leave the scheme books at school! "Sam! See me! See me." Not even grammatically correct. Sorry.

[Malaleuca]

Hocus have you used the books from piperbooks with a reception child, on which to base your judgement?