Books for reception reader

[Tableforfour]

Some advice please. My daughter is in reception and very keen on her reading, has finished level 6 of a biff chip and kipper box set as well as the snapdragons books and read write inc ones.

I'm struggling to find good books for her to read now. I think that the stage 6 was actually a bit hard for her and she's really at stage 5 ( she as desperate to finish the box so we got through them) , I've tried some from the "early readers" blue ones but again they seem too hard. I've also tried some green banana books from the library which seem about right.

Any other suggestions? I don't want to put her off reading by giving her books that are too hard.

Many thanks in advance

I would give a bit of respite from reading schemes and go for a bit of Dr Seuss - the books for Beginning Beginners.

What I mean is - she'll get a lot of phonics books at school. They tend to be quite samey. Look for really rich and varied books with lovely illustrations, humour, zaniness

Funnily enough I've just shown her "mr brown can moo, can you" which was in a pack of dr suess from the book people last year. She was too tired today and is going to try it tomorrow. What are his other junior ones?

I second Dr Seuss. My reception child loves reading these books. Wacky Wednesday is one of his favourites

Off the top of my head -

I love Fox in Socks, Bears in the Night, Dr Seuss' ABC

Also, (I'm sure you do this anyway), don't forget to talk to her about the book. Predict what's going to happen next, for instance.

If a book's too hard for her to decode on her own, she can still "read" it by describing the pictures, finding particular words, taking turns to read with you.

Sorry - on a roll. IME, children get a lot of decoding time at school, but what will really enrich them at home is time to really enjoy books and talk about them, so that they have a fuller comprehension, a richer vocabulary, and experience of different types of books. The children who write well have read a lot of stories

these are some 'leveled' non scheme books you could try

Book Band 4 – Blue

Dear Zoo – Rod Campbell
I wish I were a Dog – Lydia Monks
Rosie’s Walk – Pat Hutchins
Spot Can Count – Eric Hill

Book Band 5 – Green

Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose – Julia Donaldson
I’m Not Cute – Jonathan Allen
Not Now Bernard – David McKee
Where’s My Teddy – Jez Alborough

Book Band 6 – Orange

Annie Rose is my Little Sister – Shirley Hughes
Mr Pod and Mr Picalilli – Penny Dolan
Peace at Last – Jill Murphy
This is the Bear – Sarah Hayes

No idea of levels but DS loved the 'Happy Families' series by Alan Ahlberg at that stage. He couldn't read all of the text but had a pretty good stab at most of it and the stories are fun to read. Also the 'Claude' series by Alex T Smith. We also got some good early readers from Sainsburys recently and Dr Seuss also good.

I agree with some of the others, find books that aren't part of reading schemes and just enjoy different books. We do a lot of 'sharing' books - DS reads what he wants to and then I pick up the story to keep the pace going. It's also good for them to hear adults reading with expression.

Usborne phonics stories "Fat cat on a mat and other tales". Easy to read text and lovely illustrations by Stephen Cartwright.

Do you read books to her? I'm assuming you do, and that they're longer books, possibly even chapter books.

With my DCs we didn't worry about whether books were at the right stage or not, we just got them to read the first sentence/paragraph/page, and eventually chapter of whatever we were reading to them at the time. (As a pre-cursor to that I think we said "read all the words with 3 letters, or all the words beginning with B, or similar, just to get them started, and make it simple and fun). That way they were exposed to lots of new words, although we were always on hand to help with anything obviously too difficult. You might be surprised at what they can handle once they have their basic phonics though, and its great for their confidence to know that they can read any book, rather than just the learn-to-read type.

When my DS1 was halfway through Year 2 we started reading Harry Potter to him, with him just reading the first page in each chapter. It got to an exciting cliffhanger one day when we'd reached the end of the chapter, and put the lights out. We popped our head round the door later in the evening to find him reading the whole thing himself .... that was a great milestone!

I'm not cute is one of my absolute favourites. must find our copy

SkatingRink your post made me smile. I also remember the first time I found DS upstairs with his torch reading in bed after lights out - it does feel like a big milestone. I always did it as a child and I am praying that he will also enjoy reading for pleasure rather than because he has to.

DD loves the Usborne First Reader and Young Reader books. They come in various levels from easy to proper chapter books with still lots of pictures.

I think letting her choose new books at the library is the best way. You avoid buying them when they only last a couple of weeks and she can return them if they are too difficult.

I (and DD) don't like Dr. Seuss, she can read it but just can't find it funny.

Dunno, I go to public library & just raid their shelves for what looks suitable.

Thanks all, really helpful. We have some of those so I raided her shelves and gave her a choice. She read one of her old Maisy books, which I wouldn't have thought of giving her, and really enjoyed it.

Try the library. Ours is small but has a really good selection for early readers. Sometimes you can get "easier" books from different reading schemes that have something about them- something that really piques their interest, and that then makes it a much richer experience. I tend to agree with others that reading rich stories to them is very valuable, but I also it's good to keep supplying them with reading books to feed their appetite.