As the school year gets underway, many kids are getting started on their journey of learning to read. Here are some of our favourite series that are great for brand new readers, with examples displayed for each series. These books have short sentences, a small amount of text on each page, and a lot of word repetition.
Penguin Young Readers: Level 1 has a variety of simple stories with clear illustrations to help kids understand what they’re reading. There are many different types of stories and characters to choose from.
The Ready-to-Read: Ready-to-Go! books start off by introducing common words and sounds that are used in the book and end with some questions about the story. You’ll find some familiar characters, like Batman and Daniel Tiger.
The I Like to Read picture books include books by many well-loved authors and illustrators. There’s something for everyone in these books! Look for Guided Reading Levels A–D to start.
The Flip-a-Word books by Harriet Ziefert introduce word families (words with groups of letters in common—often rhyming words). Start by learning words in the same family (ice, mice, rice). The words are then combined into phrases accompanied by increasingly silly illustrations.
The books in the I Spy with My Little Eye series by Amy Culliford are all based around a different colour, with a lot of repetition from page to page.
At the beginning of each Early Bird Stories book, high-frequency words are introduced. Kids are also shown a letter that is important in the story, which they are encouraged to trace with their finger. The books with the pink stars are best for beginners.
The books in the Phonics Fun series each focus on a different sound to reinforce the relationship between a letter and the sound it makes.
The library’s Early Graphic Novels can also be a great choice for new readers. Try the Frog and Dog books—silly stories that use a lot of repeated and rhyming words.
New readers may also like the Flubby graphic novels about a cute, wide-eyed cat that never does what his human wants him to do.
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