Best Beginner Reading Books

Lucy has been reading up a storm lately. During the school year, we had daily reading "lessons", alternating between learning phonics and sight words. Now that Lucy has more confidence and skill, she is ready to read independently. She started asking me for books that she could read on her own, but like so many other moms, I was uncertain what books to give her. A lot of books that claim to be for "beginner" readers are not appropriate at all. It was frustrating, to say the least!

While visiting the library one day, I stumbled across some books by Margaret Hillert. Her books are perfect for young readers who are just starting to be ready for independent reading. Many of them are adaptations of classic fairy tales and fables, so Lucy was already familiar with the stories. Some of our favorites are The Three Bears, Fun Days, The Cookie House, and The Magic Nutcracker. Hillert's books come with a word list in the back, so you can introduce words that your reader may not be familiar with yet.

Once Lucy had read every Margaret Hillert book she could get her hands on, I began to look for other books - a step up from the Margaret Hillert readers, but not quite intermediate books. Here are some of my suggestions for best beginner reading books:

1. Dick and Jane books: These are classics for a reason! Yes, they are very 1950's with traditional gender roles and complete lack of diversity. But for a new reader, they are excellent. The little stories are short and simple, and the illustrations are beautiful. 

2. Let's Read and Find Out Science books: These are so great, especially if you can get your hands on some vintage copies. We have started selecting these based on whatever we happen to be learning about in Science, and Lucy LOVES them. Just make sure you get the Level 1 books to start out; Level 2's can be a bit advanced for beginners.

3. Little Bear by Elsa Holmelund Minarik: Another classic-for-a-reason. But seriously, this is such a great book for new readers! The little stories are relatively short and simple. Some of the words are challenging for new readers, but in a good way! This book is a nice step-up from Margaret Hillert's books when the child is ready.

Lucy has already devoured the Dick and Jane Treasury and all of Little Bear. Thankfully, there are more Little Bear books and plenty of Let's Read and Find Out Science books to keep her busy until she starts First Grade in the fall!

Homeschooling Update

After a very long break from homeschooling, we are back at it! I have to confess that this is our first full week of "school" since Esme was born! We did do a little here and there over the holidays, but we were not very disciplined. Now that Esme is two months old and a little more predictable (not that babies are ever really predictable), it’s time to dive back in. We have all really missed the routine that "school" provides. (Especially me)


Lucy has been making great progress with her reading lately. I don’t expect her to be a great reader, or even to learn how to read at all, at age 5. It is far more important to us that she develops a lifelong passion for reading. Earlier this year, Lucy asked me if I would teach her to read, and so I have been - little by little. We started out with Mother Goose rhymes, and now she has moved on to books. Not “the cat sat on the mat”-type beginner readers, which she found to be repetitive and boring, but beautiful literature. Children, even those who are just starting out, are perfectly capable of learning to read books of good literary value! (Stepping off my soapbox now...)

Reading lesson in progress...

I would be lying if I said that Lucy enjoys her reading lessons 100% of the time. Learning how to read is strenuous work for the child. That's why we keep our lessons short (only 10 minutes a day), and if she gets frustrated, we move on to something else. Better to shut the book mid-lesson and preserve her love of books than to have her burn out at age 5. 

But, for the most part, Lucy ends her 10 minutes feeling confidant and proud of her own hard work. As she should! Morgan and I realized the other day that we can no longer spell words to keep secrets from our children ("Do we have any i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m?") - that phase of parenting is gone forever because we have a reader now! 

Homeschooling Update

We have just begun our second week of homeschooling, so I wanted to share a little update on how things are going. Last week was very much about getting used to the new rhythm, and some things proved to be more challenging than expected. For one thing, the weather in Georgia has been extremely hot, and the mosquitoes have been even worse. This made spending time outdoors a bit of a challenge. We had to forego our forest exploration and head to our local park instead, where the mosquitoes were not quite so bad. Thankfully, today was cool and overcast, so we were able to take our first Nature Walk.

Lately, we have noticed these large web-like nests in the branches of our neighborhood trees. Today, we were finally able to get a closer look and learned that they are made by web worms, a type of caterpillar that builds its nest in late summer / early fall. Eventually, the web worms will emerge as a type of moth.

A close-up look at the web worm nests... I actually think they are kind of amazing.

Lucy has also been working on her reading. This is something that she initiated, and she has made some amazing progress. Last week, we started with reading the Mother Goose rhyme "I see the moon, and the moon sees me..." 

Today, Lucy was able to read the words even when they were out of order and all mixed up. She even put them back in the correct order. 

This month, we are reading books about the calendar, learning the seasons, holidays, days of the week, and months of the year. My favorite book that we read last week was Seasons by Blexbolex. 

The illustrations are really beautiful and simple, and many of the words are easy enough for Lucy to read herself. Highly recommend! 

Week 2, here we go!