Books for reading

June 15, 2020 7:21 AM

Our almost-4-year-old really loves books, and seems to be taking an interest in letters and words. We're not in a rush to get him to read, but are there books that we can read to him that are especially good for developing reading skills? At his own pace, not drills or deliberate memorization or anything like that.
posted by Tehhund to Education (13 answers total)

This is what Dr. Seuss was going for. The Cat in the Hat specifically has 236 different words, most for beginning readers, many repeated often, so kids can learn sight reading. Dr. Seuss's ABC is a fun way to approach words and sounds.

How Rocket Learned To Read, by Tad Hills, is also a fun one. You can read the story while the pages are also full of the fun words the dog is learning.

Really, though, any picture books he likes are going to do the job, though--they're going to expose him to what he likes. Ones with simpler words that are repeated, so he can learn them by heart, recognize them as they come up repeatedly, notice patterns with rhymes and alliteration--all that is going to build on his interest, which is all you need to do.
posted by gideonfrog at 8:11 AM on June 15, 2020 [4 favorites]

These are award winning early reader books. We like David Milligram.
posted by CMcG at 8:30 AM on June 15, 2020 [3 favorites]

One thing I didn’t realize as a beginning teacher is how much books vary in the degree to which the illustrations support the words. Mo Willems is a master at this- his Elephant and Piggie books are brilliant, and hilarious.
posted by carterk at 9:02 AM on June 15, 2020 [10 favorites]

Teach them something useful at the same time: one of my favorites, Quiet Loud. :)
posted by Melismata at 10:13 AM on June 15, 2020

If your local library is open, consider asking the children's librarian for suggestions. Librarians love questions like these!
posted by bookmammal at 10:16 AM on June 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

Phonemic (phonological) awareness is a critical, auditory pre-reading skill. There are activities that you can do with your kid that are fun and won't feel like work. Googling "phonemic awareness activities" will provide more examples.

(If you want to know more about phonemic awareness, check out this article: The Importance of Phonemic Awareness in Learning to Read.)
posted by tuesdayschild at 11:45 AM on June 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

Seconding Elephant and Piggy. There's a spin-off series now of books Gerald and Piggy are supposed to be reading, such as The Itchy Book.

The I Can Read and Step into Reading series are good for this too. They come in paperback and also in nice hardcover bargain editions with three stories for under ten bucks. I am having a little trouble finding the bargain editions online but my local Barnes & Noble always has a display of them. Grab the Frog & Toad one if you see it-- sometimes they phase them out. I am still mourning the demise of the one about Kevin Henkes' Penny.
posted by BibiRose at 12:16 PM on June 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

Arrange books in at least one room where they can grab the books they want you to read. I am always surprised by the differences even at a young age. You can vary the pile but choice really helped. (We had a large basket on his bedroom floor. Friends have had kid sized book shelves, etc.)
posted by typecloud at 1:21 PM on June 15, 2020

This isn't a book suggestions, but I just did a professional development review of early literacy supports for children. One thing the authors mentioned was having literary materials in pretend play areas in the home. So, if your kiddo is interested in play kitchens, have some menus and recipes printed to go in that area. You can also store boxes of his favorite snacks in the kitchen, and the logos on boxes help kids remember and associate the printed letters with the product.

If your kiddo is interested in playing pirates or explorer, have some maps with printed words for the place names on them. If they like pretend gardening, you can get packets of seeds with the names of the plants written on them. These are just some examples, but I thought it was a cool, real-life and high-interest way to expose kids to print and support early literacy skills.
posted by shortyJBot at 1:54 PM on June 15, 2020 [4 favorites]

Please, please, please start teaching your child (verbally) the sounds the letters make. As in, just like a cow says MOO, a D says ddddd. Being able to sound out words is incredibly important to eventual fluency, and waiting increases the odds that a child will be old enough to be into the "that's dumb" or "that's embarrassing" stage... and often, then, the opportunity is lost - and that can be life-changing. You don't have to "drill" but please, start. It can be as simple as adding things in to normal conversation, like seeing a word, pointing it out, and saying something like b-b-b-b-bubble, just like one would when talking about things like "yup, that's a cool green car, isn't it" or "wow, the red fire truck is loud, isn't it".
posted by stormyteal at 8:46 PM on June 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

Bob Books!
posted by bq at 11:34 AM on June 16, 2020

Look for decodable readers. Phonics books follows an excellent phonics scheme. The Dandelion series introduces a few letters and sounds each time and they're designed to encourage independence. I've used their catch-up readers for my (much) older pupils and they've loved them. The scheme that the books follow is called Sounds Write, and they're currently offering some free courses for parents, which I highly recommend.

Phonics is not sufficient for developing happy readers but it is necessary. There's a wealth of very robust evidence on this and as a teacher I can tell you that the kids who have not received robust phonics instruction early on struggle with their reading and find it hard to enjoy reading in its own right. This has HUGE ramifications and I find it heartbreaking and frustrating because it doesn't have to be this way at all. By giving your child access to lovely books that do follow a phonic sequence, you are empowering them to join a lifetime of of stories, adventures, and knowledge.
posted by mkdirusername at 4:21 PM on June 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

In the pre-k class I used to teach, I sent home one of these emergent readers every week. They are sight word based, but they are also good because the sentences describe the pictures very well. There are a ton of them, and they build on each other. The same site has phonic readers too. A quick google also brought up these decodable books.

I also have had luck finding simple board books at our local dollar store. I get them for my infant classroom and let them "read" them. They do form favorites (Bubbles Bubbles from Sesame Street, I'm looking at you).

You can also try various thrift stores for books. First words books are good.

Good luck! Every time I have a parent interested in reading with their kid, my heart sings! It's a gift that keeps on giving.
posted by kathrynm at 8:36 AM on June 17, 2020 [1 favorite]