Authentic Text Early Reader Books

The early stages of learning to read can be a difficult and frustrating time for your child. Help to relieve some of the tension by choosing just the right books for motivating and entertaining your beginner reader.

Early reader books with authentic text can be a great starting point. Since authentic text books support the whole language approach of learning to read, they are not written in order to practice specific phonics rules and so the language tends to flow more naturally. Indeed, these may be the same books which you read aloud to your child when they were younger.

There is a huge range of these types of early reader books available, which means that you can be sure to find some which match your child's current interests and passions. These books tend to have vivid illustrations and contain short sentences written in simple language with some repeated phrases. Choose books where the pictures heavily support the text so your child can use them to help guess difficult words. Through repeated readings your child will start to recognise words by sight thus building their bank of sight words. Your child is likely to be exposed to a greater variety of words than in books based on phonics, which initially restrict the vocabulary to those words which are easy to sound out.

If, however, your beginning reader reads only authentic text early reader books, they may start to rely too heavily on guessing words and learning words by sight. As the books they are reading get longer and have less pictures, they may start to struggle to work out all of the words and get frustrated. Many experts advise that children also need to know how to decode words and sound them out using phonics. It is probably a good idea, therefore, to also expose your child to early reader books based on phonics in addition to books using authentic text.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award has been award annually since 2006 to the authors and illustrators of the most distinguished early reader books published in the United States during the preceding year. The award is named after Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr Seuss, who himself was a master at writing books for beginning readers. The list of winners and runners-up for this award are a great starting point for finding some excellent, recently published authentic text books for your child to read.

Below you can find some other great ideas for early reader books which support the whole language approach to learning to read. Don't miss the two at the bottom of the list which are designed for you and your child to take turns reading aloud. These are a perfect choice if your child is finding the early reading stage frustrating and you want to lighten things up a bit.

Usborne First Reading

books have engaging stories, delightful illustrations and the trademark Usborne high quality hardback covers. They are carefully graded from level 1 to 4 and there is a gradual but clear progression in terms of subject, style, story length, sentence structure and vocabulary. This gives children the satisfaction of mastering real books and making measurable progress. The level 1 titles are designed to be the first real books a beginner reader will tackle, with very light support from an adult. Each book contains a single story from a wide range of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction, together with six pages of reading-related puzzles. The Little Giraffe was the first of these gorgeous books which we bought and we will definitely be buying more. Read More

Brand New Readers

are short, funny stories written by award-winning authors, full of bright, colorful artwork. These early reader books are sold in box sets with ten books per set, making it easy and fun to follow favorite characters from story to story. Each short book contains a one-line-per-page, eight-page story with high frequency words, repeated language, strong picture clues and a humorous ending. There is also useful advice on how to approach this early reading stage with your child. The short length of each book makes them perfect as very first books and my son loved attaching a sticker on the incentive chart included in the box after reading each one. Read More

Beginner Books

In 1957, Random House pioneered the beginning reader genre when it launched the Beginner Books series with Dr. Seuss’s classic The Cat in the Hat. Other titles in the series were soon released, with various contributors in addition to Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss). The Beginner Books dominated the children's picturebook market of the 1960s and are still very popular today. Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection

is an excellent collection of five beloved Beginner Books by Dr. Seuss: Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks. Or try the equally good The Big Red Book of Beginner Books

which contains six Beginner Books by a variety of authors. There is also a Big Blue Book and a Big Green Book.

Scholastic Reader

Scholastic have two series of early reader books. Hello Readers were first launched in 1976 and since then more than 250 titles have been published covering both fiction and non-fiction. The Scholastic Reader

series of early reader books include many new, original titles, as well as many of the Hello Reader classics. There are four levels of books in both series from level 1, which consist of simple words and short sentences for the newest readers, to level 4, which are the first chapter books for advanced beginners.

Toon Books

TOON Books

are a great series of high-quality comics designed for newly-emerging readers. The books feature original stories and characters created by veteran children’s book authors, renowned cartoonists and new talents. Comics have a unique ability to draw young readers into a story through the drawings, and these books could be perfect for encouraging more reluctant readers. These early reader books are divided into 3 levels, characterized by the number and complexity of words and sentences, complexity of plot-line, and comic panels per page. Read More

I Can Read!

There are more than 200 titles in the I Can Read!

series from HarperCollins featuring award-winning authors and illustrators, and many popular characters such as Amelia Bedelia, Fancy Nancy and Biscuit as well as early reader books based on popular movies (my sons' favourites are the books on superheroes such as Superman and Batman). Books include mysteries, adventure stories, poetry, historical fiction and humour and come in five different levels from the 'My First' level for emergent readers to level 4, which provide the perfect bridge to chapter books. I Can Read! e-books are also available via the Apple iBookstore and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Bookstore which feature sound-effects and audio read-along functionality synched to each word on the page. Read More

Step Into Reading

The Step Into Reading

series, from Random House, offers early reader books at five skill levels: Ready to Read (for when your child knows the alphabet), Reading with Help, Reading on your Own, Reading Paragraphs and Reading Chapters. Both fiction and nonfiction titles are available and include favourite licensed characters such as Barbie, Berenstain Bears, Sesame Street and Thomas the Tank Engine. Read More

Ladybird Read It Yourself

The Ladybird Read It Yourself

series contains familiar fairytales and traditional stories with four levels of difficulty. Level 1 is for children who are beginning to learn to read, level 2 for children who can read short, simple sentences with help, level 3 for children who are developing reading confidence and can read simple stories with help and level 4 for children who are eager to read longer stories independently. Each of the early reader books is carefully structured to include many everyday words that are vital for beginner readers. Extra puzzle questions at the end of each book further help with comprehension. Read More

We Both Read

The format of the We Both Read

series of books by Treasure Bay publishers is designed to allow parents and children to share the reading of a book by taking turns reading aloud. You read the more complex text and storyline on the left-hand pages and your child reads the right-hand pages written at early reading level. Your child gets to practice reading at their level of ability and they also get to relax and listen as you model fluent reading of more complex text. This results in your child having an increased enthusiasm for reading, as well as improved comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. The series has proven effective with reluctant and struggling readers in igniting reading interest and accelerating reading development. Featuring both fiction and non-fiction titles, the series includes books at 6 different reading levels. Read More

You Read to Me, I'll Read to You

There are five books in the series of You Read to Me, I'll Read to You,

each containing a delightful collection of short stories designed for parents and children to read together. The text is in two columns and two colours, to clearly indicate how to break up the stories into the two parts. The two parts are of equal difficulty so could also be read by two beginner readers. The text uses an abundance of rhythm, rhyme, and repetition which makes them fun and engaging to read. There are five books in the series: Stories, Fairy Tales, Mother Goose Tales, Scary Tales and Fables. When my son doesn't feel like reading aloud to me, we often change things around by getting one of these books out and having a go together.