Is a child in your life developing their reading skills? One way to find books for them is to search the library catalog for "Early Books" or "Transitional Books".
Early Books, meant for the first stages of the learning-to-read process, have just a sentence or two per page, easy to sound out words, and lots of helpful pictures. Here are a few examples of wonderful Early Books:
- Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss
- Hello, Bumblebee Bat by Darrin P. Lunde
- Supertruck by Stephen Savage
- Duck! Duck! Porcupine! by Salina Yoon
Readers who are ready for longer sentences and up to a full page of text may be ready for Transitional Books. Although these books are longer, they still have great supportive features, like lots of white space and large fonts, as well as fun pictures. Excellent examples of Transitional Books include:
- Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes
- Daring Amelia by Barbara Lowell
- Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider
- Brobots and the Kaiju Kerfuffle! by J. Torres
So, now you've searched the catalog for "Early Books" or "Transitional Books". It's a pretty long list of books, isn't it? Try adding a keyword, such as "dinosaurs", to narrow down your results. Your search would look like this:
"Early Books" dinosaurs
or
"Transitional Books" dinosaurs
These kinds of targeted searches can help you find books that match your child's interest much quicker. Studies show that kids are more motivated to read books on topics or themes that speak to their interests. Interest is just as important as reading level.
Here are some other keywords to use along with "early books" or "transitional books":
- Friendship
- Mystery
- Humorous Stories
- Animals
- Adventure