I find it very important that kids get into the habit of reading. Could anyone suggest some good books that they can start of with. Books that are simple, with good language, and interesting too.
Good books for kids?...
- Thread starter jollysmith123
- Start date
That is a pretty big age range... A lot of 4 year old are not reading, or only reading sight words. When my guy was little, we had the 'Bob Books' and that was a good starter.
I also read to him A LOT from a young age. As he grew older, I would read slower and point to all of the words as I read them.
I prefer Dr. Seuss myself, but I also really liked the brightly colored "MY FIRST..." books. They had nice pictures and single words under the pictures.
By the time my guy was 8 he was reading a lot of longer chapter books and he liked the A to Z mysteries and LOVED the Diary of the Wimpy Kid books.
By 9 he was reading the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Uglies, etc. Even though he will read just about anything, when he was about 8 is when he really started to read books of a certain genre that he prefered. Amazon made it a little easier for me to pick books for him to try with their recommendations. You tell them what books you like, they make suggestions on others you may like as well.
I also read to him A LOT from a young age. As he grew older, I would read slower and point to all of the words as I read them.
I prefer Dr. Seuss myself, but I also really liked the brightly colored "MY FIRST..." books. They had nice pictures and single words under the pictures.
By the time my guy was 8 he was reading a lot of longer chapter books and he liked the A to Z mysteries and LOVED the Diary of the Wimpy Kid books.
By 9 he was reading the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Uglies, etc. Even though he will read just about anything, when he was about 8 is when he really started to read books of a certain genre that he prefered. Amazon made it a little easier for me to pick books for him to try with their recommendations. You tell them what books you like, they make suggestions on others you may like as well.
Again, interests would be really useful.
Sasha is nearly 5 and he loves all books about dinosaurs, fiction and non-fiction, so I could list some awesome dinosaur books, but if your kids have no interest in them, then that wouldn't be very helpful.
Why don't you take them to the library and let them browse, and see what they come up with?
Sasha is nearly 5 and he loves all books about dinosaurs, fiction and non-fiction, so I could list some awesome dinosaur books, but if your kids have no interest in them, then that wouldn't be very helpful.
Why don't you take them to the library and let them browse, and see what they come up with?
We use the "I'm going to read" series. My now 5 yo likes them a lot and will read them over and over. I know that McMillian and Scholastic both publish good sets too, But the "I'm going to read" are my favorite as they really drill the phonics in a fun way. If you put "Who took the cake" into Google books you can see a sample. It's Who took the cake by Robert Wurzburg. My son is learning to read so fast with them (and others, there's a Batman series he loves, that we read together, I have him read a few then I read, we switch off. Why not go to the bookstore and browse them. My boys love going and picking out books.
I try to find books for Cam which are not complicated stories but have some thought provoking material...We actually read the "The Giving Tree" tonight by Silverstein and had a really long talk about selfishness and friendship and some 4 year old randomness that was not at all connected but still talking!!
I love Shel Silverstein's Poems and my older son has some of his anthologies. If you don't know much about him, I'd encourage you to read his biography on Wikipedia.katencam said:
Last spring (on 4/20) I heard a song by him, and was a little surprised by the subject matter, but considering his background and that he's an equally prolific song writer, it makes sense. I was amazed at the number of well known songs he'd written.
I have a daughter going into first grade and we use the "I Can Read" books, levels 1 and 2.
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Books! Where do I start???
I think of books from two main angles:
- Books for kids to read, and
- Books to read to kids
Books for kids to read:
For these, I head to the library. They have books graded by level, so it helps to figure out what is at the right reading level for them. My daughter loves a series called "We Both Read", where the parent reads one side of the page, then the child reads the other, simpler, side of the page.
As they start reading, they also love to pick up their favorite books that have been read to them over and over again. They already have them almost memorized, so it helps them match the written words with what they already know it says. Things like Dr. Seuss are wonderful for this.
This 'memorizing' is also one of the reasons I get many reading books from the library, as it ensures that the kid is actually reading, not just remembering, and keeps them seeing new words all the time.
Without knowing the reading level your kids are at, it's difficult to give specific recommendations, but your public library and your school library will be able to give you lots of suggestions!
Books to read to your kids:
My oldest daughter is 5, and we spend at least half an hour before bed reading a chapter or two of whatever our latest book is. Here some of the books I've read to her:
- Magic Tree House series, by Mary Pope Osborne. (Adventure, magic, time travel. VERY educational)
- Little House series, by Laura Ingles Wilder
- Roald Dahl books (James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, Danny the Champion of the World)
- Gordon Korman (Swindle, Zoobreak, No More Dead Dogs) Gordon Korman writes for a range of ages, and I found his Titanic series a little too scary for my daughter at the moment. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though, and I'll read it to my daughter later!
- Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
- Hotel for Dogs by Lois Duncan
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
- The Magician's Nephew by C.S.Lewis
- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Black Beauty
- Nate the Great series by Marjorie Sharmat
The list goes on ....
My big recommendation is the Magic Tree House series. The kids go back in time to different periods and events in history and to different places in the world, such as the first Thanksgiving, the Titanic, the Paris World's Fair, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, China, Africa, Australia, Japan, the American Civil War, all kinds of things. My daughter has been obsessed with them since she was 2 years old, and even at that age would sit through a whole book (about 30 - 50 mins), then bring me another one!
I think of books from two main angles:
- Books for kids to read, and
- Books to read to kids
Books for kids to read:
For these, I head to the library. They have books graded by level, so it helps to figure out what is at the right reading level for them. My daughter loves a series called "We Both Read", where the parent reads one side of the page, then the child reads the other, simpler, side of the page.
As they start reading, they also love to pick up their favorite books that have been read to them over and over again. They already have them almost memorized, so it helps them match the written words with what they already know it says. Things like Dr. Seuss are wonderful for this.
This 'memorizing' is also one of the reasons I get many reading books from the library, as it ensures that the kid is actually reading, not just remembering, and keeps them seeing new words all the time.
Without knowing the reading level your kids are at, it's difficult to give specific recommendations, but your public library and your school library will be able to give you lots of suggestions!
Books to read to your kids:
My oldest daughter is 5, and we spend at least half an hour before bed reading a chapter or two of whatever our latest book is. Here some of the books I've read to her:
- Magic Tree House series, by Mary Pope Osborne. (Adventure, magic, time travel. VERY educational)
- Little House series, by Laura Ingles Wilder
- Roald Dahl books (James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, Danny the Champion of the World)
- Gordon Korman (Swindle, Zoobreak, No More Dead Dogs) Gordon Korman writes for a range of ages, and I found his Titanic series a little too scary for my daughter at the moment. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though, and I'll read it to my daughter later!
- Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
- Hotel for Dogs by Lois Duncan
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
- The Magician's Nephew by C.S.Lewis
- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Black Beauty
- Nate the Great series by Marjorie Sharmat
The list goes on ....
My big recommendation is the Magic Tree House series. The kids go back in time to different periods and events in history and to different places in the world, such as the first Thanksgiving, the Titanic, the Paris World's Fair, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, China, Africa, Australia, Japan, the American Civil War, all kinds of things. My daughter has been obsessed with them since she was 2 years old, and even at that age would sit through a whole book (about 30 - 50 mins), then bring me another one!
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Thank you!
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That is true, that there are also many books we can read to kids and explain them like a story, but they themselves wont be able to get it right while reading. These books can be a little too much for a kid to grasp on their own. Also I think fairy tales, which can be read by kids themselves are better read when done by parents. Kids like the effect, the drama and the interest that parents create.
http://www.amazon.com/Tidbits-Sundries-Cutesy-Patootsy-Collection/dp/0615648363[/URL]
Fun for both parents and children!
Fun for both parents and children!
I would recommend that you check out Amazon's Books section for kids. In that, filter out the books by the categories your kid is interested in. And then check out the reviews given by other customers and the ratings for the book.
Generally a book with good ratings and lots of reviews will be a good buy.
You can also preview some of the pages of the book before actually buying it. Amazon allows that. That way you will get an idea about the contents of the book.
Some books are free. But these are mostly in digital format. If you are ok with a digital book, you can even check-out some books instantly.
There are some free Kindle books which you can read on your Kindle. And if you do not have a Kindle then you can even read it on your laptop or PC using Kindle Cloud Reader by accessing it from your web browser.
Hope this helps.
Generally a book with good ratings and lots of reviews will be a good buy.
You can also preview some of the pages of the book before actually buying it. Amazon allows that. That way you will get an idea about the contents of the book.
Some books are free. But these are mostly in digital format. If you are ok with a digital book, you can even check-out some books instantly.
There are some free Kindle books which you can read on your Kindle. And if you do not have a Kindle then you can even read it on your laptop or PC using Kindle Cloud Reader by accessing it from your web browser.
Hope this helps.
First, I'd like to say that kids who learn to read early are (more than likely) NOT smarter than other kids. Involved parents are the difference.
With that said, may I suggest you get ANY or ALL of the Eric Carle books. They're fantastic. The first book my daughter ever read was an Eric Carle book.
With that said, may I suggest you get ANY or ALL of the Eric Carle books. They're fantastic. The first book my daughter ever read was an Eric Carle book.
Hey Thank you everyone for sharing your ideas. I have got a handful of books here that I will check out in the library and try to get kids into reading those. Their interest also matters, so initially the trial and error method will suit the best to see what grips them.