Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would appreciate any recommendations for some really fun, captivating books written for preschoolers who are just beginning to read. I am only looking for extremely basic level - pre-level 1. I remember seeing the Biscuit series at the bookstore (could not find them at the local library) and those seemed fun.
My son is 4 and a half and he is showing some slowly budding interest in reading very simple sentences with very simple words (3, max 4 letters); but he is clearly in the very early stages of even being able to commit to an entire sentence. He loves to be read to out loud and could listen like this for hours, but when it comes to doing anything on his own that necessitates focus/concentration/mental effort, he is extremely fidgety, does not have the patience and gets bored within minutes. I pray every day he will not turn out to be one of those begging to be diagnosed with ADHD, though I am often forced to admit that, at this age, he exhibits virtually all symptoms by the book. Yet, at 4 very few doctors would even bother to evaluate him for such a problem.
I also often wonder whether he is too young for me to encourage him to actually read books (as simple as they may be) - but I feel a lot of pressures coming from all over, including from his preschool, situated in one of those "pressure cooker" school districts.
Thank you in advance for any good recommendations!
My kids (even my poster child for extreme hyperactivity) love and loved Bob Books. The first time I picked one up I thought "ugh how boring and plain", but now that I have learned the value of simplicity and not bombarding kids with a page just filled to the limit with data competing for attention, I think the design of the Bob Books is superb.
I am not an educator nor am I an early-childhood specialist, so someone might have something better to offer, but please do take a look at Bob Books.
Thanks a lot, lisdol. I had heard about this series too but I always thought it sounded way too modern, realistic and dry for my son's taste (which he, of course, got from me). I am all about magic and fairy tales and va-da-voom and so is my son - and I just never thought he would be very captured by what "a builder" does.
But for the sake of simplicity of reading, we will surely try them.
I am just starting to be concerned with his fidgety-ness and refusal to focus on anything that requires more intense mental effort - now that I started to encourage some actual sentence reading. I don't think he is there yet, but I keep hearing about 4 yo-s who have their reading already down. If you ask me, I think it's insanity but then again, the pressures are there whether I like it or not.
What about Eric Carle books. Okay, maybe your little kid can't 'read them' but The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a big, big preschool hit.
Here are some I found from a list by just googling 'best preschool books":
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Corduroy by Don Freeman
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
I taught preschool for years, and I agree with some of these. I also have a MS in Education and a child (who loves reading and is now almost 12 years old).
I like books by Keats because they can offer a multicultural perspective. The little boy in the book(s) is Black.
There are several good ones apart from the one I found above.
There are the books by Rosemary Welles (Max and Ruby author).
Kipper books are good, very simple.
TV tie in books are okay...(Handy Mandy, Bob the Builder, whatever your kid loves). My son has always been a science buff and will pick a science book 99.% of the time so we have to encourage 'fiction.'
Do not push your child to read. Read to him, surround him with books on topics HE loves and make time for family reading...shut off the tv and model reading behavior as a priority and fun!
Dr. Seuss books are perfect for new readers and I think they were the first books my kids read on their own. I personally like the "If you give a mouse a cookie..." book and all the ones after that. Lot's of repetition, short words and funny stories. Here are some suggestions from Amazon - Amazon.com: first reader books: Books
What about Eric Carle books. Okay, maybe your little kid can't 'read them' but The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a big, big preschool hit.
Here are some I found from a list by just googling 'best preschool books":
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Corduroy by Don Freeman
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
I taught preschool for years, and I agree with some of these. I also have a MS in Education and a child (who loves reading and is now almost 12 years old).
I like books by Keats because they can offer a multicultural perspective. The little boy in the book(s) is Black.
There are several good ones apart from the one I found above.
There are the books by Rosemary Welles (Max and Ruby author).
Kipper books are good, very simple.
TV tie in books are okay...(Handy Mandy, Bob the Builder, whatever your kid loves). My son has always been a science buff and will pick a science book 99.% of the time so we have to encourage 'fiction.'
Do not push your child to read. Read to him, surround him with books on topics HE loves and make time for family reading...shut off the tv and model reading behavior as a priority and fun!
We read almost all those books over and over during the time he was anywhere from 6 mo to 3yo. However, I think that those books are good reads for very young children but not necessarily good pre-level 1 readers where the child starts to read actual sentences on his own.
As for TV, I had no idea that Bob the Builder is something on TV, as my kids never watch TV. They sometimes watch a half an hour or so from a DVD on Saturdays or Sundays.
As for naturally cultivating the love of reading, I don't think we could do anymore than what we are already doing; however, we feel concrete pressure to teach the child to actually read and write on his own at this age. It's not something I am happy about.
Dr. Seuss books are perfect for new readers and I think they were the first books my kids read on their own. I personally like the "If you give a mouse a cookie..." book and all the ones after that. Lot's of repetition, short words and funny stories. Here are some suggestions from Amazon - Amazon.com: first reader books: Books
Thank you a lot, great link!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
