Living books versus twaddle.
In the world of early readers, there are mountains of books designed to help your child learn to read. When teaching reading, we want to give our kids the best books for learning, but how can we find them in the overwhelming number of options? Authors and publishers of leveled readers try to make books fun and capture the child’s attention, but many of these books are not of the greatest quality and talk down to the child. I think a reader should at least meet a few standards of a living book, even if it might not check all the boxes.
“For the children? They must grow up upon the best . There must never be a period in their lives when they are allowed to read or listen to twaddle or reading-made-easy. There is never a time when they are unequal to worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well told.”
(Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, p. 263)
It may be unrealistic to find early-reader books that are inspiring tales, but we can at least do our best with what is available. Mason does make a pretty strong case for using reading material beyond the “reading-made-easy” books. I believe the use of readers is helpful for children during their early reading stages, though it is important to be selective. I think a reader should at least have a basic plot that can be followed, and avoid anything crude or insulting. You don’t need to stock your shelves with early readers. After all, the student will either quickly outgrow the books into chapter books or will surpass the maturity level that most early readers are written in. The best books are the ones that can be read forever, but readers have their place on the shelf.
Sorting through the books.
I remember going to the library with my first child, pulling books out to find something that she was interested in and could read at her level of phonics knowledge. The problem was that most readers lack any plot and the levels are not organized equally among publishers. Some publishers will make an early reader of a movie character for example, and it has three words per page, though the words are not basic sight words or within the first level of phonics rules. Other books are unfortunately crude and perhaps not the best influence on children. I have looked through so many readers over the years that leave a lot to be desired. I want to share my process for choosing reading material for your budding reader.
Consider the age of the student.
If you have waited for your child to turn six or seven before beginning phonics instruction, chances are they will move very quickly through readers. You may be able to use something more advanced from the beginning, moving slowly through the pages, helping as you go. However, if your child is ready to read earlier and you are wanting to start using little books, you have choices for more basic readers that will fit your needs.
Our tried and true family favorites.
(Affiliate disclosure: some of the links on this page may give a small commission to this website if purchased. All opinions are honest and from my own experience.)
The Little Bear books:
Charming little illustrations and stories, these books have been loved by generations of young readers. Little Bear has adventures with his family and friends with some funny moments sprinkled in. You’ll get to enjoy the cute moments between Little Bear and his mother along with your child (who will probably relate to his shenanigans.)
Dr. Suess:
Besides being infamously canceled a few years ago, Suess’s books seem to get a love-it-or-hate-it reaction out of people. I have kids in my house that enjoy the stories and others who do not care for them. Regardless, I think the word usage is genius and I find them amusing. They are simple books I don’t mind reading to little ones when they are babies, but later on they are better off for teaching reading. The rhythm of the words rolling off the tongue, whimsical illustrations, and comical plots are what make them timeless. I suppose it depends on your sense of humor whether you like the books. One of my daughter’s favorite books for a while was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I think she enjoyed the funny villain-turned-hero character, and perhaps my husband’s expressive narrating skills had something to do with it. As I was typing this, my youngest daughter said, “Don’t forget the Star Bellies.” If there ever was a child’s book that examined consumerism it is Dr. Suess’ The Sneeches, but for her, it was just a delightfully funny story.
Frog and Toad:
My girls still remember the stories, they thought they were entertaining and funny. They always seemed to enjoy reading them. Frog and Toad are friends but sometimes argue like an old couple. They also have some humous struggles we all relate to, including what to do with those that pesky cookie jar taunting them! Your six-year-old will probably look at you and wonder why you’re laughing.
Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks!
Dr. Seuss
Other options to consider for teaching reading.
In Parents and Children Mason gives examples of using nursery rhymes and other stories to begin to play with letters and words as puzzles for teaching reading. This is such a great idea, you can simply take the books you’re reading and involve them in reading part of the words, while you jump in and say the difficult words. I find this to be the most enjoyable because it is interesting for both myself and the reader. Although I don’t follow her methods exclusively, you can see what Mason had to say about teaching reading in Home Education p. 199.
A Note: what if my child is having trouble reading?
Some children have difficulties reading, whether it is because of dyslexia or any other reason. Once they are past the age of eight or ten, I can’t imagine giving them an early reader and expecting them to be content with that. I think it is important to continue to provide help through audiobooks so that they can “read” anything. There are tools for children with dyslexia such as Learning Ally which has over 80,000 books on audio. We use Audible, Libby (Library app,) and Librivox. While they are on the journey to learning to read well for themselves, kids with difficulty reading should be able to keep enjoying quality literature. Their minds and hearts depend on you providing this for them! (Check out my Blog Post: Summer Reading or a Lifetime of Literacy.)