And just like that, summer is nearly over, and a new school year has begun!
This has been a particularly momentous September for us, because my little boy just started kindergarten! There have been a lot of big feelings, from all members of the family, but the first week was a resounding success. Both kindergarten teachers seem absolutely lovely, so whichever class he ends up, I’m sure he’s going to have a wonderful school year.
As for books, we’ve been burning through the Acorn early readers from Scholastic, thanks of course to our local public library, which keeps our book basket well supplied. These readers are fantastic – there are a number of different series within the imprint, and they all feature adorable illustrations, plenty of humour, and simple texts that are perfect for building confidence. And the humour is just so key – kids don’t want boring books, even when they’re just learning to read, especially kids who were read a lot to when they were small, and have grown accustomed to interesting stories! “See Spot run. Run, Spot, run!” just isn’t going to cut it!
Best Buddies – Save the Duck! – Vicky Fang
We loved this book, which is a collection of three short, humurous vignettes featuring best buddies Sniff and Scratch. This book had the simplest text, often with only one or two words per sentence, which is perfect for your newest readers. It’s so exciting for kiddos to be able to independently read an entire sentence, and really helps build confidence. I’ve already placed holds on all the other books in the series.
Bumble and Bee – Don’t Worry, Bee Happy! – Ross Burach
Another fun and silly collection of vignettes, featuring the madcap Bumble and Bee and their long suffering friend Froggy. The text in these ones seems to be a bit longer, so we’re not reading it independently just yet, but A can pick out words he recognizes. And he loves their silliness. We’re also looking forward to reading more of these great books!
Honestly, if you have a emergent reader at home, or you work with kids in the Pre-K – Grade 2 range, the Acorn books are so fantastic, and there’s so many different series, which is great if your child devours them like mine does!
Definitely check out your local library!! Keeping a voracious young reader fed could get very expensive, especially if your child, like mine, doesn’t often want to re-read books, and prefers variety.
I hope everyone has been keeping well, especially my fellow back-to-school friends, whether you’re a student, caregiver or educator! We’ve got this!
We’ve had a few of these come into the used bookstore where I work, though I haven’t read them, usually read the books for older readers. I’ll be sure to look for them, Jane! Hope your not-so-little one is having a wonderful beginning to his kindergarten year!
I love your posts, Jane, because I often have no idea what is going on in the world of early readers, and writing these kinds of books is an art in and of itself! I would be clueless if someone asked me to write a compelling, entertaining story with two-word sentences, but I’m glad these authors have figured out how to do it, so your son can read independently and have fun doing it!
Also, I’m so glad your son is doing well in kindergarten so far—how exciting!! I can imagine that has been a lot of coordination and work, getting him ready for such a big transition. As a grad student, I agree with your last paragraph about the back-to-school transition—we’ve got this!!
Thanks so much for the wonderful post, as always, and enjoy your week!
Thanks so much, Max!! I’m actually technically a “middle years” librarian, so school-aged kids are my professional specialty. It’s been exciting to watch my kiddo gradually age into my work sphere, now my home life and work life are intersecting! We struggled at first through a bunch of readers I initially borrowed, the more traditional “This is a car. The car is red. The car is fast” books that just bored him to tears – not really what you want when trying to foster of life-long love of reading!
So glad you’re finding series to keep your son happy and engaged as a reader! I’ll have to look for these as well. I hope the routine of being in school is now becoming just that–routine–and everyone is settling in.
Hooray for starting kindergarten! So exciting! Autonomy is the goal… remember that when he goes off to college! My kids went through hundreds of I CAN READ and STEP INTO READING books at this age. I’ll have to hunt down some of the Acorn books. They look interesting!