When is a child ready for books with words?

[Mumofcrazy2]

Just that really. I can't really seem to find much info online.
Ds knows his single phonics sounds and a few of the double letter sounds (Can't remember what they are called)I feel he's blending quite well and knows about 10 high frequency words.

The big cat phonics books are pretty good IMO. Just make sure they are the phonics ones and not the older look and say.

The issue you might find as you go through the series is that they tend to introduce a lot of new sounds at once unlike other decodeable schemes which introduce a few at a time.

If he knows all the single letter sounds and a handful of tricky words, you’ll probably find he doesn’t need to start at the beginning of most schemes.

Dr Seuss books are great for early reading, mostly phonetic or easy sight words. 'Cat in the hat' , 'fox in socks' and 'I can read with my eyes closed' are a few my kids started reading themselves aside from scheme books. If you read together then you can fill in gaps where he can't read it and let him read the bits he can.

Thank you all for your advice.

He's always loved books, being a reflux baby the only thing that would sooth him was to sit him up a little and read to him. Quite often in the evenings now we will cuddle on the sofa and he will pass me book after book to read. I've made sure I've started talking about the book and asking questions too.

Well he read one of the songbirds books yesterday, twice! But the second time I think he had actually memorized the words from the first time! He then went on to expand the sentences making them more interesting! So instead of just reading 'pop' he said 'pop went the balloons'.
Not sure if this is ok?

So instead of just reading 'pop' he said 'pop went the balloons'.
Not sure if this is ok?

I wouldn't over think it! The most important bit is that he's enjoying and understanding what he's reading. Anything else is fine. My eldest sounds similar to yours. Whatever you do in a year or two he'll just be free reading whatever interests him.

Remember that reading to him is still very important as his understanding will exceed his decoding so reading to him serves to increase his vocab and love of reading.

Lots of parents get really obsessed with decoding and forget that a lot of reading is vocabulary and comprehension. Honestly most kids learn to read whatever you do - although obviously the best bet is to use phonics. By four lots of kids are already in school and bringing home books with words so by all means do that. On the other hand what is much more important at this stage is you reading to him (even when he can decode more complex books) as this is what is going to develop his vocabulary and comprehension skills.

When he starts school next year some kids will be reading fairly fluently others won't know all their letters. Two years later lots of the latter group will be surpassing those in the former. Just enjoy books with him and don't worry too much!