A lot of parents are looking for beginning books to have their child read. At our library we have Rookie Readers and Pebble Books. I grabbed a stack of them last week at the library. I love these little books. They are perfect beginner books to get kids reading sentences. The Pebble Books are all about animals and science topics. The Rookie Readers are great because they have different levels and in the back of each book it tells you how many words are in each book and it gives you a list of the words. Some even have the text on one side and the picture on the other.
Thank you Krista G! I have been looking for these Geography books to accompany/extend my Montessori 3-part card activities with my dd ever since I saw them on a Montessori mom’s blog. I had forgotten which blog I saw them in and I didn’t have the publisher info, etc.
We use Rookie Readers from our library, too! I love them for all the reasons mentioned and because they are so easy to convert to Doman style books. I bring them home and scan the pictures. And do a little editing on the first picture as that one has a short sentence on it. Then I type up the other words and print! Josiah loves them.
I always load up on non-fiction Rookie Readers from our library! I refresh our selection every 2 to 3 weeks. My son loves them. I always think of DadDude when I get them because I think they’re what he meant when he said he checked out tons of “Doman-type books” from the library :).
Thanks for sharing Krista. I was exactly looking for books like these. Nowadays my son is more interested in computer presentations than physical cards or books. I hope these kinds of books will bring his interest back to books.
Thanks they look great and I like that they have a lot of non fiction too - not sure where to get them from here though but will look into it - maybe I am just searching our local sites badly.
I just want to let everyone know that Intellectual Baby has just come out with 2 brand new books to teach babies to read. They are rhyming books and they have the text and the illustrations separated, which we all know is important when teaching little ones to read.
They are Know Your Monkey and Monkeys LIke the Color…
I really like Welcome Books published by the Children’s Press. It’s a whole series of non-fiction books with real photographs instead of illustrations. It’s hard to search for them. They aren’t often categorized by the series name ( Welcome Books) and they have many different authors. Here are some links on amazon.com:
The books look nice. It looks like there is text on one page and the picture on the other? Do they maintain that format throughout the book? That is how the Pebble and Rookie books are. These seem to be a level or two above those. Thanks for the info. It looks like they have a lot to choose from. I will check my library website right now.
Yes, the print is on one side. We read them together. The print is large. You don’t have to wait until your child can read them because they are so educational. Some of them are so simple. Yet they encourage many questions. For example, I think one called “My Uncle Works in a Deli” resulted in questions such as why do people work, why do people have to pay for things, why doesn’t Daddy work in a deli, How do people decide on their profession, etc. Sometimes my daughter picks out pieces that she can read. Sometimes she likes to discuss the photos. I just think they encourage critical thinking because they introduce kids to the real world from many different perspectives. Occasionally we get one that isn’t any good but lots of them are wonderful. I just wish they were easier to find. You have to do some detective work to find them. They are shelved in the juvenile nonfiction by subject then author. I only know of a few of the authors. I get them at my local library too.
Also if you haven’t found it yet, the whole nonfiction juvenile section of the library is also amazing. I’m usually there all by myself with rows and rows of books. It makes me worried that one day it will close from disuse and get taken over by picture books. Sometimes I just pick a topic and I always find little gems. We could spend days just reading all about food alone. My daughter loves food. It’s amazing how much has been lost. They don’t make great simple nonfiction concept books anymore. These days concept books are only made in the chapter format. I love when my daughter falls asleep in the car on the way to the library then I can spend an hour with her in the stroller browsing the shelves. It is easier to pick out some books without her input.
I found a few of these books at my library website and requested them. I am excited to see them and see how my daughter likes them. We often empty, just kidding, the shelf with nonfiction books. We don’t have an impressive selection, but there are some great books there. Thanks for the recommendation. My daughter asks a lot of questions already and I will be curious to see if these books lead to new questions.
I know what you mean about having time to look at the library. I am so thankful that I can request my holds online. It saves me time and hassles at the library and allows me to always have a good selection of books to read to my kids. We seriously visit the library about 3 times a week or more to pick up our never ending holds.
