Great Books for New Readers

One of the most common questions I get from parents in the library is how to help their child learn to read.

The first answer is that reading out loud to your child early and often is the number one way to help them become a good reader. Not only do they learn many pre-reading skills by watching you read aloud, but they also very importantly learn the love of reading from you. For more early literacy tips, check out these recent blogs from Jerissa. Talk—Read—Sing—Play

When my own son was learning to read, he started by pre-reading books like “Great Day for Up,” where he gleefully picked out every occurrence of the word “up” and read it to me as I read the story. He also loved “reading” the book “Bears on Wheels” back to me, reading the pictures and telling me the story as he went.

When he was ready to start really reading and decoding the words on the page, he started with the Bob Books from the library. These super short books with just a few words per page really helped build his confidence as well as his reading ability. He loved when he could declare that he read a whole book by himself!

I have compiled a list of great books to help get your child started on their reading journey. These books range from those with one or two words per page to some with easy sentences. I hope that these books can help start your child on their lifelong love of reading!