I know a lot of people on here are making their own books when teaching their children to read. My daughter has recently begun to be able to read certain words (mostly nouns she knows) in standard toddler books (even books she has never seen before) and I would like to know which books anyone can advise - I need books with reasonably easy plots and stories that are short - she is not yet ready for books suitable for 2-3 year olds, but is beyond books with only a few words per page. Books with big font are also needed. I am not keen to make my own books as she is doing well with the books I get out of the library so long as they are well selected. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Good luck finding them. I have only found a few that I can afford anyway. So that’s why I am making my own. My son too knows some words but not enough for some of these books, even board books are hard to find with simple sentences and that isn’t crowded with tons of pictures on one page. I have found that making my own has saved time and money. I have found that big pictures, with few words and that isn’t so crowded works better for my toddler and infant. Both love a single picture with no background better then a brightly colored crowded scane with tiny objects or people. I get great results with my books from my toddler.
I go to the library frequently and we borrow plenty of books, buts some of the award winners my son doesn’t evern like. He really liked “Honey Bunny Funnybunny”. I forget who the author is. But it was a favorite for my son and he would ask for it at bedtime. For me its just a hit and miss with books. I also participate in the pampers gift programs which has rewards for buying their products. My son has been potty trained for a few months now so I decided to redeem my points. I ordered the early reader board book set. I received it yesterday and they are already a hit. We received, “big dog, little dog”, “the ear book”. They are a bit on the small print side, but they are nice and strudy. I would recommend for 90 points from Pampers.
I like Little Elephant by Miela Ford with photographs by Tana Hoban. The letters are large and underneath the pictures on a whilte background rather than incorporated in the picture. The photos are black and white i.e. less distracting. And yet, the photos are cute - real photos of a clumsy baby elephant splashing in the water. There are between 1 and 7 words on each page. My daughter isn’t ready to read yet, so we are using it as a read aloud book. She has learned about 15 words and is up volume 1 in YBCR.
My favorite is I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak. It has up to 6 words on a few of the pages, but most pages only have 2 or 3 words. I like because the words are large and my daughter knows 4 of them - toes, ears, nose, and eyes. Also it has some concrete action verbs that I think will be upcoming in our YBCR program - talking, walking, and running.
Lori
Have you ried the Maisy books? Most of those have big, clear print.
i second the library trips… and you don’t have to stay in the picture book area. there are actually a ton of books that you will find for early phonics that work perfectly. it’s also a great section for books on counting. the first few times try to plan a trip by yourself during mommy time so that you can get the lay of the land and search high and low without distraction for the right books. i love when dd and i go together but it is a brilliant trip when she isn’t with me 
!!
my daughter loves the ‘bob’ books.
not the cheapest things in the world and the stories aren’t meant for content but they work with phonics and repetitive sounds. my dd doesn’t get all the words (and, the… etc.) but she will get the important words (mat, sam, cat) without any help. she also likes to run around yelling ‘bob, bob, bob’. but those are our first foray into pre-reading books to own. i would love to be so motivated to make board books!!
Thanks for all of the ideas. My daughter at the moment is hooked on the book Mess Monsters She used to read certain words I pointed out to her the first couple of times we read the book, but its been about two or three weeks now of reading it every day and I know she knows it off by heart as I can stop at any word without her even looking and she will say the word I miss out - so its no use ofr practising reading now 
I tell her every day that she gets to pick one book and Mummy can pick one and then we read at least two books before bed in the hope that she will find something else more interesting - last night she asked for additional books after the first two so at least she is hearing more than just the one story.
I love hearing about the books y’all find that you like to use with your little ones. I’ve mentioned this one before: A Black Cat: An ABC Book (Boxer Concept Series) (Board book) http://www.amazon.com/Black-Cat-Book-Boxer-Concept/dp/1906250022/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b#
If I remember right, what I liked was that it had big words, then it used those words in sentences.
Right now my boy is stuck on cars. He really only wants books about cars. Ones about babies are alright, too. We are constantly looking for books at the library.