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Reviews
Why did the authors use "words" that aren't real words?
Generally I thought these books were good. After months of struggling, my son suddenly "broke the code", and these were the first books he read. Because of their simplicity, he could immediately read them straight through, with very few errors, which felt like a much-deserved and much-appreciated reward after all that hard work. The two of us were both laughing with relief and delight.
However, one thing that bothered us was the occurrence of "words" that aren't really words. What are those for? Examples:
"The vet ran zip zap."
"ZAM!"
When my son read those words, he thought he was reading incorrectly, since the "words" didn't make any sense to him. I was annoyed because the books made him feel uncertain at those points, though he was reading perfectly.
There were a couple of sentences that were unnatural, too. For example, "Dot did nap." Normally we say, "Dot napped," do we not? Of course, "napped" is a more advanced word and would have been unsuitable for the first series. But my son scratched his head over some of these sentences because the wording was not natural.
I thought the downside should be stated, even though the high praise the books have received here is well deserved.
Excellent early Kindergarten reading!
The series has been renumbered yet again. The new ISBN for the first set is 0439845009.
Bob Books come in 5 sets on 3 levels, and they cover the fundamentals of reading through about half of the Kindergarten level, which is lower than either of the other programs. Each set contains 8-12 books for the child to read, with a line or two of text per page.
Unlike many programs, there is little to no direction for the parent. However, they are carefully crafted to introduce the sounds in a systematic and maximally rewarding way, as well as carefully choosing sight words. The very first book requires that the child know the sounds of only four letters (M, A, S, T) and one sight word (on). The rest of the first set of 12 books (12 pages each) introduces the rest of the alphabet and short-vowel sounds, carefully reviewing everything learned, as well as a handful of high-untility sight words. The second set of 12 books (12 pages each) reinforces what was learned in the first set with more text per page, more plurals, ore sight words, and a few blends. The second level begins with the third set, which has 10 books (16 pages each) and introduces more text, more blends, and some compound words, while the fourth set (4 with 16 pages and 4 with 24 pages) has more blends, more sight words, and long compound words. The final set, in the third level (4 with 16 pages and 4 with 24 pages), has longer stories and introduces long vowels.
The thing my son likes most is that I'm not telling him what to do most of the time, and he doesn't have to repeat books!
Some parents find that the level of progression slows after the first set, but we're going to do them all. It helps my son acquire speed and fluency painlessly.
The only bad points: The words are handwritten, which means that despite the excellent handwriting, there is some inconsistency in spacing and letter shapes that will give some readers problems. Also, if your child likes to gaze for a l-o-n-g time at every picture, painless swifty becomes agaonizing. For that case, I recommend McGuffey's Eclectic Readers
This isn't sufficient to bring a child to the end of the Kindergarten level, but it gets them reading basic books very fast! Many people like the later part of Nora Gaydos' series to follow up. I will use an out-of-print series that I got from my aunt for free :-) called Scholastic Phonics Ready Readers (ISBN 0439325099 and others) starting with books 37. Afterwards, there are many classic early reader books that he can read, like Little Bear and Frog and Toad.
My son can read.....
My 5 yr old son starts kindegarden this fall and my goal is to get him to read before school starts. While going through flash cards to get him to know the sounds of every letter in the alphabet, it got boring and he started to get frustrated. To make this experience more exciting for both of us, I brought the the Sesame street "Alphabet Jungle game" and Bob books. He watched the Alphabet Jungle game on Sunday, which reinforced all the sounds of the alphabet to him. On Monday we went through the first 3 BOB books and I couldn't belive it...my son can read the first few book now...only after one sitting.
"look mommy I can read!"
Wow these books are amazing. Crafty and to the point. My son started these about 1 year ago and began reading 1 and 2 syllable words within the 1st two times of reading through the series. The boos can be colored by children since the drawings are just outlined pictures. I loved them, they beat hooked on phonics for me!
Easy and concise.
My son was able to read an entire book on his first try. These are great. I know it is helpful for teaching reading and that it is helping my four-year olds learn how to read. I would highly recomment this series.
Get the
Bob Books First! Level A, Set 1 (re-released as Bob Books Set 1- Beginning Readers)
at Amazon!
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