MORE 'EASY-BOOKS' POSTS
Call them easy books, beginning books, early readers, whatever term you prefer. Today, I'm highlighting the books that are best for new readers. Simple texts, simple sentences, simple words. None of that fancy dance chapter nonsense.
Meet the most necessary and least loved age range of children's books.I have been carefully combing through every last easy book and early chapter book I could get my grubby little hands on and, with the help of my co-workers, I've come up with a good, if imperfect, list.
I think you've heard me say before that in many ways easy books are the most difficult titles to write. They are most perfect when they are most simple. And they are most simple, when they limit their text complexity. Can you make complex characters and plots with such small words? You can. These did.
Fox & Chick: The Party and Other Stories By Sergio Ruzzier Chronicle Books $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-4521-5288-2 Ages 4-7 On shelves now Have you ever sat down and looked at books meant to instruct children in the art of reading from the early 18th to 19th centuries? When Americans colonists first came around to the idea […]
It’s haiku. It’s poetry. It’s harder than original Twitter. Creating a quality easy book, whatever the reading level, is an art. Today, I’m throwing them all into a pile. The easy books that use only the simplest of words. The ones ones that veer closer to early chapter books (a category we’ll explore further tomorrow). […]
I first came up with the idea for a 31 Days, 31 Lists series in late September. Having kept track of a number of books over the year, it made a logical kind of sense. But as we got closer to the actual lists I realized that in some categories I’m going to be seriously […]
The Cookie Fiasco By Dan Santat Additional Art by Mo Willems Hyperion Books for Children (an imprint of Disney) $9.99 ISBN: 978-1484726365 Ages 3-6 On shelves now See, this is tricky. Very tricky indeed. On the one hand, as a reviewer of children’s books, not bound to any single periodical, I have the freedom to […]
A patron walks up to your children’s reference desk. Asks for books for beginning readers. The patron has a small child who is just at the very very beginning of learning to read and needs books with simple words. No big long sentences. Nothing too intense. Just the basics. You walk over to your easy […]