Figure 3.1 Color-Coded Readers Sign Reprinted with permission from Multnomah County Library.
In 2011, I had the honor of reading for the 2012 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, which is administered annually by the Association of Library Service to Children. The charge of this committee is to find “the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year” (Welcome to the [Theodor Seuss] Geisel Award home page! 2018). During my year of reading books for beginning readers, I learned a lot about what kids need in order to have a good experience with the book they are holding in their hands.
With the creation of the Geisel Award, publishers stepped up the layouts and storytelling of beginning reader titles. These high-quality books are just what librarians and caregivers are looking for. The stories and art capture children’s imaginations and encourage them to learn the individual words in order to be able to read a book on their own. It is a journey that families embark on together when the time is right.
Nothing is more magical in my mind than when a child starts down the path to becoming a reader. This path really begins at birth when parents start reading to their baby every day. Then usually sometime between the ages of five and six, the vocabulary heard and the letters learned start to become familiar words on the page. A child can read a word or two and then, overtime, a sentence and then, over even more time, a paragraph. This does not happen overnight and can be a daunting task for parents who want to send their child to kindergarten reading.
Type A parents may start this process at the young end of the spectrum, as early as two years old, and some parents will start to panic a little by the end of kindergarten if their child is not reading. If parents are looking for a sign that their child is ready to start learning to read more formally, they can look at how their child interacts with books.
If the answers to these questions are “yes,” then the child is likely ready to start learning to read. This can mean that the child is at the stage of learning the letters and their sounds, the stage of putting the letters and sounds together to make words, or the stage of being able to start recognizing words on the page. Learning to read happens in stages, and each one is important to the process.
Ideally, children’s and school librarians will work with the parent and the child to find books that are on an appealing subject and that start with few words on the page and lots of large illustrations and build to more challenging sentence structure over time. Unfortunately, it is not always that simple. Once the word level i s added to the conversation, learning to read can become more number or letter focused rather than individual kid and interest focused.
One of the biggest areas of support librarians can offer is helping caregivers navigate the leveling world. With their first child, parents will probably be flummoxed about what the numbers or letters mean and will need a translator to assist them in helping select books for their child. Working with levels is not the way most librarians like to make recommendations, but we realize it comes with the territory. So, let us break it down between leveling systems used by schools and those used by publishers.
Leveling of books is usually related to Accelerated Reader (AR), Lexile, Fountas and Pinnell, or other guided reading levels. These are guidelines that many school districts use to evaluate a student’s reading progress. Assigning specific levels to read is done in an attempt to find just the right reading level for each child—a level that challenges the child but is not too difficult and, therefore, discouraging. This sounds good, and when communicated to parents, it can seem like a terrific idea. How simple it seems to just look for a level rather than look at the books themselves to determine the right fit. The problem is that assigning a specific level to a child severely limits what the child has access to read. The interest of a child is left out of the equation, and many times, so is appropriateness of the text.
Jessica Gillis is a school librarian at John M. Tobin Montessori School, a public school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her school library serves kids in preschool through fifth grade. The school uses Fountas & Pinnell to assess the children, but she does not use this system in her library. She does pull out and shelve her easy readers as well as chapter book series for emerging readers separately. Occasionally, she will check what a child’s letter level is to get a better idea for what types of books to recommend, but she does not look up that letter for a list of books to suggest. It just gives her an idea where the child is as a reader, and then she uses her professional knowledge to pull books for that reader.
Pressure from teachers, administrators, and parents to make finding leveled books super easy with labels on the books and shelving standards that throw out the Dewey Decimal system in favor of levels are challenges school librarians may contend with. If you find yourself in this type of situation, I would start by explaining that leveling systems were never intended to be used to make book recommendation directly to children.
The creators of the Fountas and Pinnell system are adamant that their system should not be used to limit a child’s choice of books, which happens when children are not allowed to read outside their level. In fact, they “designed the F&P Text Level Gradient TM to help teachers think more analytically about the characteristics of texts and their demands on the reading process, and the A to Z levels were used to show small steps from easiest to most difficult” (Parrott 2017). The idea was that teachers could use this information to help them prepare lessons but not as a system to brand kids.
It can be a little easier to stay away from shelving by a particular system in a public library. When I get asked about shelving by AR, I explain that each school had to purchase tests, and so the books a student could read and then find a test on at each school were different. There was no way around having to look up titles on the printed lists. Most caregivers got it but were still frustrated by the time spent hunting for that perfect 2.5 book.
The compromise Cuyahoga County Public Library made several years ago was to import the AR and Lexile levels in through our integrated library system, Innovative Interfaces Inc. Now when customers and staff look up titles in the Encore catalog, they can also check specific levels. This keeps labels off books but still allows families to find the information if they need it. It also protects the privacy of the reader because it makes it less clear which books are above or below grade level.
If things were not complicated enough, you also need to be aware of the leveling systems used by publishers. Many times, these leveling systems will be numerical with a level 1 or level 2 on the spine or cover of the book. Sometimes it will be a letter. The challenge here is that the levels and letters do not always correspond to leveling systems like AR or Lexile, and they do not mean the same thing from publisher to publisher. This is confusing enough for librarians, but it is paralyzing for caregivers.
Parents are trying their best to make reading fun and not too hard, but selecting the right book can feel impossible. It is time-consuming and leaves parents feeling aggravated. Librarians, both school and public, need to be current on the beginning reader books that are in their collection so they can make the recommendations that cut through the leveling red tape.
When kids start learning to read, they have lots of choices as there are tons of books published each year that are made specifically for this process. With the wide variety available, there truly is something for every reader. Because there are so many and they are written for the different stages of a reader, the help of a librarian is necessary to find the best choices.
One area of the collection I have always found to circulate extremely well is the beginning reader section. When I do a slow-moving list for items that have not circulated in the past year, there are only a handful, and the few that are listed tend to end up being missing. Because they circulate at such a great rate, other actions need to be taken to make sure items are weeded out as they get worn out. Instead of a slow-moving list, you might want to do an aged report for items over 10 years old or for items that have circulated 20 times or more. You do not have to weed everything on the list, but you will want to use your professional judgment on whether to keep, replace, or withdraw to make room for new titles.
It is so important to capture the interest of kids as they start down the path to reading success. If at all possible, shelve the first readers on lower shelves so that a kindergartener or a second grader can reach the books to browse for something to read. While you want a caregiver to be there to help in the decision-making process, it is hard for children to take ownership if they cannot reach the books.
This list of level readers and their publishers is not meant to include every one available but, instead, offer you a variety of examples of good titles and publishers to look out for.
Capstone Publishing—Stone Arch Readers
Crow, Melinda Melton. Brave Fire Truck. Illustrated by Chad Thompson. Mankato, MN: Stone Arch Books, 2012. 31p. $22.65. 9781434230294.
A level-one book that has only a few words per page and lots of the words are repeated throughout. A great choice for kids just starting the learning-to-read process. While not as flashy as some of the other series listed, these early readers are spot on for using limited vocabulary.
HarperCollins—I Can Read
Garton, Sam. Let’s Go Swimming! New York, NY: Balzer + Bray, 2017. 32p. (Otter). $16.99. 9780062366641.
HarperCollins uses the level My First Shared Reading for kids in the prereading stage. When reading the Otter series, caregivers may still be doing the majority of the reading aloud, but the layout is conducive to young eyes and the repetition will help listeners start to recognize words on the page as they work up to joining in the storytelling fun.
Holiday House—I Like to Read
Long, Ethan. Dance, Dance, Dance! New York, NY: Holiday House, 2018. unpaged. $14.95. 9780823438594.
The line-up of authors and illustrators writing the I Like to Read series are some of the best in the business. The layout of the book depends on the talent creating the work but each is well thought out. In this particular story, there is a lot of repetition and the layout has more of a comic book style using word bubbles for the narrative.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt—Green Light Readers
Nolen, Jerdine. Block Party Surprise. Illustrated by Michelle Henninger. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015. 41p. (Bradford Street Buddies). $12.99. 9780544358621.
With multiple sentences on each page, this level-three reader is for kids who are ready to read independently according to the Green Light Reader system.
Lee & Low Books—Dive into Reading
Hooks, Gwendolyn. Music Time. Illustrated by Shirley Ng-Benitez. New York, NY: Lee & Low Books Inc., 2017. 32p. $14.95. 9781620143438.
Lee & Low has their own leveling system that includes: Early Emergent, Emergent, Early Fluent, and Fluent. This Emergent title includes chapters that each tells a piece of the overarching plot but each chapter has a clear ending. Writing this way allows a reader to enjoy a book in chunks.
Little Brown and Company—Passport to Reading
Christopher, Matt. The Dog That Pitched a No-Hitter. Illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. New York, NY: Little Brown and Company, 2013 (1988). 48p. $3.99pa. 9780316218481pa.
The dialogue, short paragraphs, and plot that carries from chapter to chapter offer a level-three book that is just right for kids reading independently but not quite ready for a longer chapter book.
Macmillan — My Readers
Griffiths, Andy. The Cat, the Rat, and the Baseball Bat. Illustrated by Terry Denton. New York, NY: Square Fish, 2013. 32p. $15.99. 9781250027733.
Rhyming words and word families are used to tell a nonsense story. The limited and purposeful vocabulary and the illustrations of new and classic characters will help readers build confidence as they read.
Penguin Books—Penguin Young Readers
Adler, David A. Don’t Throw It to Mo! Illustrated by Sam Ricks. New York, NY: Penguin Young Readers, 2015. 32p. (Mo). $14.99. 9780670016310.
This series under the Penguin umbrella provides African American kids a regular kid who looks like them, and each book tackles a different sport. These books are just right for kids ready to move beyond works with a more controlled vocabulary and word count. The books in the Penguin Young Readers line use guided reading levels.
Random House Books for Young Readers—Step into Reading
Liberts, Jennifer. Go, Go, Trucks! Illustrated by Mike Yamada. New York, NY: Random House, 2017. 32p. $12.99. 9780399549526.
Repetition and rhythm will help beginning readers work on fluency as they read. Colorful illustrations will assist kids in deciphering unfamiliar words. This is a step-one book that is truly meant for someone just learning to read.
Capozzi, Suzy. I Am Strong. Illustrated by Eren Unten. New York, NY: Rodale Kids, 2018. 32p. (A Positive Power Story). $13.99. 9781623369538.
Multiple short sentences on each page, along with the repetition of words and illustrations that depict the text, make this level-two reader a good choice for kids looking for a little more challenge than a couple of words per page.
Scholastic Inc.—Scholastic Reader
Cox, Katherine. The Lost Kitten. Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2015. 32p. (Katie Fry Private Eye). $3.99pa. 9780545666725pa.
A level-two reader that uses slightly longer sentences to increase the difficulty of the text.
Simon & Schuster—Ready to Read
DePaola, Tomie. Strega Nona and Her Tomatoes. New York, NY: Simon Spotlight, 2017. unpaged. (Strega Nona). $16.99. 9781481481359.
Strega Nona is a classic character that many parents and grandparents will remember from the picture book Strega Nona. Here, her personality shines through but the text has been modified so beginning readers will not be frustrated. A perk of this line is that it includes beloved characters like Ian Falconer’s Olivia the pig and Cynthia Rylant’s Henry and Mudge.
These books do not place a level on the cover but the beginning readers still focus on the elements that make books successful for kids learning to read. They cover a variety of stages, so becoming familiar with them will help you be better prepared to make suggestions to families.
Arnold, Tedd. Fly Guy’s Big Family. New York, NY: Cartwheel Books, 2017. 30p. (Fly Guy). $6.99. 9780545663168.
The use of short chapters to tell the antics of Buzz and Fly Guy gives beginning readers the opportunity to read like a big kid. A good choice for both parents and kids who want chapter books before the child in question is really ready.
Butler, Dori Hillestad. King & Kayla and the Case of the Missing Dog Treats. Illustrated by Nancy Meyers. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree, 2017. 47p. (King & Kayla). $14.95. 9781561458776.
Just-enough clues are dropped to make the story interesting and keep the reader turning the page to see who the culprit is.
Jules, Jacqueline. Sofia Martinez: Abuela’s Special Letters. Illustrated by Kim Smith. North Mankato, MN: Picture Window Books, 2017. 27p. (Sofia Martinez). $21.32. 9781515807285.
Introducing Spanish words into the story makes this series more accessible to English language learners. With many sentences per page, this series is for more advanced beginning readers.
Lin, Grace. Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2010. 43p. (Ling & Ting). $14.99. 9780316024525.
There is still a lot of white space on the page but there are also more sentences, and the book is broken up into six chapters. This is just right for kids who are almost ready for a longer chapter book.
Pham, LeUyen. The Itchy Book! New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children, 2018. 50p. (An Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! Book). $9.99. 9781368005647.
Playful, high-interest stories with colorful illustrations. Each book in the series is unrelated, and they are written by different authors. Pages with Mo Willems’s Elephant and Piggie start and end each book.
Snyder, Laurel. Charlie & Mouse. Illustrated by Emily Hughes. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2017. 37p. (Charlie and Mouse). $14.99. 97814 52131535.
These two delightful brothers will steal the hearts of caregivers. There is a nostalgic feel to these books that portray everyday life for kids who do not have a lot of material things but do have great imaginations. The large amounts of white space on each page and between lines and individual words are just right for eyes trying to track words.
Thomas, Jan. My Toothbrush Is Missing! New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. unpaged. (Giggle Gang). $9.99. 9780544966352.
The comic style layout uses word bubbles to show which animal is speaking and the primary colors offset against a white word bubble and black text make this easy for those learning to read. At the end of the book, the author offers tips for how caregivers can successfully help their child learn to read.
Virján, Emma J. What This Story Needs Is a Vroom and a Zoom. New York, NY: Harper, 2017. unpaged. (Pig in a Wig). $9.99. 9780062494313.
The Pig in a Wig series is designed for kids just learning to pick out words on the page. There is a rhythm to the text that includes some rhyming words and repetitions of phrases. These components will help make the journey of learning to read successful.
Ziefert, Harriet. Crab Cab. Illustrated by Yukiko Kido. Maplewood, NJ: Blue Apple Books, 2014 (2008). unpaged. (Flip-a Word). $12.99. 9781609054304.
Few books do a better job of teaching kids word families. This series is a must for all libraries as they are the perfect books for parents who are ready to dive into teaching their child to read.
Chapter books, even those for newly independent readers, should be housed in a different section than the beginning readers. These shorter chapter books can also be shelved separately from the longer, middle grade fiction. However, I would only recommend this if you have a sizable collection.
Some publishers will create imprints that focus on the chapter book reader. These chapter books are short, usually 100 pages or less, and they include illustrations, larger font, and more space between lines of text. Here are just a couple of standouts.
Branches — Scholastic . There are many series that fall under the umbrella of the Branches imprint. Branches books are created specifically for beginning chapter book readers, and the variety of genres increases the chances of kids finding titles they will enjoy reading. Although meant to be read by kids, they are also great to be read together until a kid becomes a more confident reader.
Lysiak, Hilde, and Matthew Lysiak. Hero Dog! Illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff. New York, NY: Branches, 2017. 102p. (Hilde Cracks the Case). $4.99pa. 9781338141559pa.
Hilde Lysiak is a kid author writing with her reporter father. Their series, Hilde Cracks the Case, falls into the mystery genre, and the character Hilde is a kid reporter and clue solver.
Aladdin QUIX—Simon & Schuster. The Aladdin QUIX line published their first three series in the fall of 2018. They are labeled as “Fast, Fun, Reads” and are just right for kids who need a short chapter book.
Quackenbush, Robert. Express Train to Trouble. New York, NY: Aladdin Quix, 2018 (1981). 64p. (A Miss Mallard Mystery). $16.99. 9781534414037.
George Ruddy Duck, a trickster who has been bothering all the train passengers, disappears, and mystery solver, Miss Mallard, must unravel the clues to discover what happened to him.
When kids move into chapter books, they typically become obsessed with series reading. They will find books they like and read everything in a series or by an author over and over again. Chapter books usually target the first-through third-grade age group. Some will be shorter at under 100 pages, and others will be more advanced and reach well over the 100-page mark.
Barkley, Callie. Amy and the Missing Puppy. Illustrated by Marsha Riti. New York, NY: Little Simon, 2013. 117p. (The Critter Club). $4.99pa. 9781442457690pa.
Girls volunteer at an animal shelter. The heavily illustrated pages, along with the subject matter, will draw in animal-loving readers.
Blabey, Aaron. The Bad Guys. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2017 (2015). 139p. (The Bad Guys). $5.99pa. 9780545912402pa.
The Big Bad Wolf is trying to turn things around and has enlisted some of his fellow bad guys to help him change his behaviors. The humor is just right for a second or third grader, and with lots of illustrations and minimal text, this is a great starter chapter book series.
Citro, Asia. Dragons and Marshmallows. Illustrated by Marion Lindsay. Wood-inville, WA: The Innovation Press, 2017. 96p. (Zoey and Sassafras). $16.99. 9781943147083.
Zoey and her mother are the only ones who can see magical creatures, and it is their job to take care of them when they are hurt. A fantasy that is perfect for kids who have grown up watching Doc McStuffins and are ready for more content per page and less space between lines of text.
DiCamillo, Kate. Mercy Watson to the Rescue. Illustrated by Chris Van Dusen. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2005. 69p. (Mercy Watson). $12.99. 9780763622701.
Feel-good stories about the beloved pig Mercy Watson who loves to eat hot toast with butter. The amusing antics are just right for kids looking for a funny chapter book.
Faruqi, Saadia. Meet Yasmin! Illustrated by Hatem Aly. North Mankato, MN: Picture Window Books, 2019. 89p. (Yasmini). $ 5.95pa. 9781684360222pa.
Yasmin is Pakistani American and she uses her creative mind to solve problems. This second grader is just the friend early chapter book readers are looking for. The colorful illustrations work well with the text and provide just enough clues to help new readers with words they might be unfamiliar with.
Gonzalez, Sarai, and Monica Brown. Sarai and the Meaning of Awesome. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2018. 106p. (Sarai). $5.99pa. 978133823 6682pa.
Sarai is the child of immigrants and loves her close-knit family. When the house her grandparents have been renting is about to be sold out from under them, Sarai comes up with creative ways to buy it. The illustrations help bring life to the story.
Hale, Shannon, and Dean Hale. The Princess in Black. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2014. 90p. (The Princess in Black). $14.99. 9780763665104.
A break from the stereotypical superhero story as this princess is the one in disguise and saving the day. Pull this one out when you have a child wanting a princess story and the parent does not or vice versa as it might just be the compromise that makes both parties happy.
James, Laura. The Dog Who Sailed the Seas. Illustrated by Eglantine Ceulemans. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2017 (2016). 124p. (Captain Pug). $16.99. 9781681193809.
A pampered pug gets separated from his girl and goes on an adventure to find her. A good fit for more sophisticated readers.
Klise, Kate. Dying to Meet You. Illustrated by M. Sarah Klise. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2009. 155p. (43 Cemetery Road). $15.00. 9780152057275.
A series of epistolary novels with illustrations that tell the tale of a recluse awriter named Ignatious B. Grumply, an abandoned 11-year-old named Seymour, and a ghost named Olive and how they become a family. Novels this length and style are best for kids just about ready to make the jump to middle grade fiction.
Krulik, Nancy. Crash! Illustrated by Louis Thomas. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 2017. 89p. (The Kid from Planet Z). $15.99. 9780448490137.
Lots of white space and an illustration on each page make this science fiction series just right for kids ready to read a chapter book about aliens all by themselves.
LaReau, Kara. The Infamous Ratsos. Illustrated by Matt Myers. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2016. 58p. (The Infamous Ratsos). $14.99. 9780763676360.
Short chapters with good spacing between lines give young eyes room to rest as they read about two brothers learning just what being brave and tough really means.
Pennypacker, Sara. Waylon!: One Awesome Thing. Illustrated by Marla Frazee. New York, NY: Disney Hyperion, 2016. 198p. (Waylon). $15.99. 9781484701522.
Kids who gravitate toward science will appreciate the character of Waylon. At almost 200 pages, this book is the kind of story to give to kids looking for a book with a little more substance. There is a lot more text and fewer illustrations per page.
Springstubb, Tricia. Cody and the Fountain of Happiness. Illustrated by Eliza Wheeler. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2015. 151p. $14.99. 9780763658571.
Realistic fiction tends to be a preference of many kids and caregivers. There is something comforting about reading about kids who act and have adventures similar to the reader’s. Cody is this kind of character and her interest in ants and getting her older brother’s attention will resonate with families. Makes a good read aloud, read together, or read independently depending on where the individual reader is at.
Urban, Linda. Weekends with Max and His Dad. Illustrated by Katie Kath. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. 150p. $16.99. 9780544598171.
Three weekends worth of short stories detail Max’s adventures with his newly divorced dad. The amount of text is greater than the number of illustrations. Give to kids dealing with their parents’ divorce as well as those who like reading about neighborhood adventures.
For some kids,learning to read may not start with fiction titles, especially for kids who are interested in animals and nature or have inquisitive minds. The need for engaging nonfiction books may be essential for helping these parents get their kids interested in the reading process.
I highly recommend that you pull out the beginning reader nonfiction titles. Branches at Cuyahoga County Public Library who have done this have seen an increase in the use of their nonfiction readers. Parents of nonfiction readers are happy not to have to hunt through more advanced books to find one of interest for their elementary-school reader. Beginning reader titles are identified by spines that have an F sticker along with a label that includes the call number and publication date.
Easy nonfiction is also appealing to emergent readers. These picture books use layouts and shorter texts that make them accessible to kids who are becoming more confident readers. Like a chapter book, easy nonfiction titles are for a more advanced reader and are books that can be read as a family or alone depending on the reader’s ability.
As like fiction readers, these books may be leveled or not, but they all control the vocabulary of the books to make them accessible to those learning to read.
Bellwether Media—Blastoff Readers
Leaf, Christina. Gray Squirrels. Minneapolis, MN: Bellwether Media, 2015. 24p. (North American Animals). $25.95. 9781626171879.
As a level three, the text is more involved and the sentences are more complex. The page layouts include box inserts that add to the text but do not busy the page.
HarperCollins—I Can Read
Driscoll, Laura. I Want to Be a Doctor. Illustrated by Catalina Echeverri. New York, NY: Harper, 2018. 31p. (My Community). $16.99. 9780062432414.
This is a narrative nonfiction title. Since it reads more like fiction, it is likely to appeal to kids who like a good story and may not typically be drawn to nonfiction books.
Jump! — Bullfrog Books
Black, Vanessa. Horses. Minneapolis, MN: Bullfrog Books, 2017. 24p. (My First Pet). $25.65. 9781620315507.
It starts with tips for parents, includes a table of contents, an index, and a glossary. The text includes short simple sentences, and photographs provide clues to unfamiliar words.
Feldman, Thea. Time. New York, NY: Kingfisher, London, 2014. 32p. $12.99. 9780753471425.
A beginning reader book with more than just a couple of words per page. For success, caregivers will want to read the note at the front. A nice feature is the bold vocabulary that is defined in the glossary in the back.
Lerner — Bumba Books
Flynn, Brendan. Basketball Time! Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2017. 24p. $26.65. 9781512414325.
Questions are posed throughout the text to engage adult and child when they read together. Short sentences and photographs make this an appealing choice for kids.
Lerner—First Step Nonfiction
Lindeen, Mary. I Pick Fall Pumpkins. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2017. 24p. $23.99. 9781512407969.
A lot is packed into this little book. There is a table of contents, bolded vocabulary, vibrant photographs, and lots of white space around simple sentences.
Macmillan — My Readers
Macaulay, David, and Sheila Keenan. Toilet: How It Works. New York, NY: David Macaulay Studio, 2013. 32p. $15.99. 9781596437791.
While still an early reader, this title is for kids who are reading pretty fluently on their own. There are short paragraphs that include complex sentences and more advanced vocabulary on each page.
National Geographic Kids—National Geographic Readers
Shields, Amy. Trains. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2011. 32p. $3.99pa. 9781426307775pa.
It is good to note the definition of the levels for these readers. The book states, “Level 1 books are just right for kids who are beginning to read on their own.” I totally agree with this assessment and would just keep it in mind when thinking about the right reader to give it to.
Random House—Step into Reading
Ring, Susan. Polar Bear Babies. Illustrated by Lisa McCue. New York, NY: Random House, 2000. 32p. $12.99. 9780399549557.
This level one reader’s text offers lots of repetition to help build the confidence of the newest of readers and the white space and simple sentence make the layout just right.
Carbone, Courtney. This Makes Me Silly. Illustrated by Hilli Kushnir. New York, NY: Rodale Kids, 2018. 32p. (Dealing with Feelings). $13.99. 9781635650754.
A level two that has short sentences, usually two per page. The font size is a little smaller and the lines are closer together on the page. It makes it a just right read for kids looking for a more challenging beginning reader. This publisher is relatively new but the nonfiction readers are pretty impressive so far.
Treasure Bay Inc.—We Both Read
McKay, Sindy. Habitats of the World. Novato, CA: Treasure Bay, 2017. 41p. $9.95. 9781601152930.
I love that these books promote reading together. Even a level-one book can pack in lots of facts but still be accessible to a novice reader.
Make sure you also consider your picture book nonfiction when reading and recommending. Look for books that have minimal text and lots of either photographs or illustrations. Kids can examine the images as they work to learn the words.
Alexander, Kwame. Animal Ark: Celebrating Our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures. Illustrated by Joel Sartore. Washington DC: National Geographic, 2017. unpaged. $15.99. 9781426327674.
Haiku poems and close-up photographs introduce kids, in an accessible way, to animals from all over the world.
McCardie, Amanda. Our Very Own Dog. Illustrated by Salvatore Rubbino. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2016. 27p. $15.99. 9780763689483.
This book demonstrates one child’s experience with a new dog in text that beginning readers ready for sentences can handle. Also included, in a different font that is smaller in size, are tips parents can read about how to take care of a new pet dog.
Sayre, April Pulley, and Jeff Sayre. Warbler Wave. New York, NY: Beach Lane Books, 2018. unpaged. $17.99. 9781481448291.
Sparse text shares the life of the warbler bird. Some of the words may require a little help from a grown-up, but it will increase a child’s vocabulary.
For caregivers of beginning readers, navigating the library’s shelves and collections can be difficult. One option might be to create a system that lumps the reader section by the stage a reader is at. For caregivers with kids who are excelling at learning to read, they may need librarian intervention to keep the book selections age appropriate. Librarians can help caregivers consider the appropriateness of theme and layout, not just reading level.
Libraries are always looking for ways to help kids and parents find the right books to take home. Making it easier to find books for kids learning to read can make the library experience more enjoyable for families. To do this, some libraries are creating their own systems to help caregivers identify books on a certain topic or, in this case, their proficiency in reading.
Multnomah County Library has spent the last 15 years focusing on early childhood but the focus ended at kindergarten. Recently, they decided to broaden the focus and a team of staff got together to imagine ways to bridge the years from kindergarten to third grade, the time period that many kids go from the learning to read stage to the reading to learn stage of childhood.
Their number-one goal was to leverage the resources of the public library to parents and schools in order to support the learning-to-read process. They were finding that the books kids were using to learn to read at school were focused on specific skills rather than characters, plots, and illustration. Since Multnomah had already invested heavily in beginning readers as well as beginning facts (nonfiction beginning readers), it was logical to try to make more educators and families aware of these collections.
Over a five-year process and with a grant from the Paul Allen Family Foundation that lasted for the first three years, the library set out to work with the eight school districts they serve. They were looking to find where the gaps were in the learning-to-read continuum and then exploring ways to fill them. The ultimate goal was to leverage the resources of the public library to support students and families in their learning-to-read journey.
To get the venture underway, the library’s project team created a survey that they shared with 400 kindergartens through third-grade teachers, reading specialists, and administrators. Following the survey, the library used qualitative interviews with individual educators to test the quantitative results. Now they had real data to help them see where they needed to put their time, energy, and financial resources.
Some key findings from the educational research study:
It became clear that one of their goals needed to be making the beginning reader section of the library more prominent and user friendly. Now they just had to figure out the best way to do it.
During those first few years, Multnomah County Library was able to use some of the grant funding to add a reading specialist to the library’s staff. Having a specialist in the area of how to teach reading was a huge asset for the library. He was able to help them better understand what it entails to learn to read and come up with ways to express this to parents and even teachers.
The first thing the reading specialist did was an ethnographic study of each of Multnomah County Library’s 19 locations’ beginning reader collections. He spent 90 minutes in each space observing how the collection was being used by kids, parents and kids, and parents, kids, and librarians. What he discovered was that within 15 seconds or less, kids would accept or return a book based on what was inside. They would keep looking until they found the book that had the right balance of words, white space, and illustration that felt like a good fit.
He also noticed that this did not really change when the librarian was present because while they are readers themselves, it is hard to be an expert on all the different levels and layouts found in a beginning reader. Unless the new reader had a specific character or series in mind, staff were still doing a hunt-and-peck style just like the kids and parents. With this knowledge in hand, the task then became how to ease this situation without pigeonholing a kid’s book choices.
The programming and outreach director for Multnomah County Library, Katie O’Dell, saw things start to come together when the project team began to think about what kids needed on the page at the different stages of learning to read. It was all about page layout, the number of words per page, the size of illustration, and not so much about what the level on the book might be.
In the end, Multnomah settled on four color-coded categories for their beginning readers. A DIY board with the four categories was created and then the project team had staff practice with a stack of books. They were satisfied that they were on the right track when both groups were putting the majority of the books in the same categories.
Once the color categories were decided upon, it was time to overhaul the entire fiction beginning reader collection at all 19 branches. Colored tape was purchased to apply to the spines of the book. The books are shelved by the color tape and then the author. This would make the browsing quicker and more successful. Nonfiction books were not included in the color coding because the team knew from research that new readers stretch themselves more to read a fact book that is of high interest, even if it is a challenge for them.
Books Already in the Collection. To start, a big weed was done at the branches to remove books that were not circulating or were in poor condition. You do not want to spend the staff time it would take to relabel these books. From there a team of six people made up of branch, cataloging, collection development, and processing staff started at the largest branch. They touched each book and evaluated it. A decision was made, a label was placed on the spine, and the catalog was changed. They moved to each branch, and after that, they were able to scan barcodes to see if a title had already been re-cataloged. If it had, they just needed to add the color label and move on. More and more titles would just need the color label as the project advanced.
New Titles Being Added to the Collection. After the initial relabeling project was complete, the decision for new books is made when the book arrives, not when it is ordered. The processing department, they do their own processing of materials, uses the DIY board to help them determine a book’s color. If needed, they ask the youth materials selector for input. For the most part, they have found that the processing staff can go by the previous series designation because all the beginning readers in a series would be in the same category.
After the collection was relabeled toward the end of 2017, the staff team at Multnomah decided to create kits with five titles that fall into a specific color category. Along with the books, a list of reading tips and suggestions for more titles the reader might like are included. A survey for parents to fill out is also part of the kit. Currently, Multnomah has about 2,000 kits spread across 19 branches. The biggest challenge is that the kits, which are in bags, take up a lot of space and are hard to house on regular shelving.
Making room for these kits has paid off as the survey results from parents have shown that:
Bookmarks were created that customers can take with them that explain the new color-coded system. Signs at the beginning reader section, as shown in Figure 3.1, also carry this information.
Figure 3.1 Color-Coded Readers Sign Reprinted with permission from Multnomah County Library.
The scale of creating a color-coded system at your library, whether it is a school or public library, will depend on the size of your library system and the size of your collection. One of the first things I would recommend doing is meeting with your administrators to discuss the potential benefits and find out what concerns there might be. It is always a good idea to have this conversation up front so there are fewer surprises later on. Once you have the green light, it is time to consider putting together your team of people to help with the process as well as spreading the word to parents and teachers.
Public Libraries. It will likely mean working with your cataloging and processing departments during the rebranding process and when future picks are added. If your library has the cataloging and processing of materials done by a vendor, that will be an added challenge. Most likely, you will still need to add the color tape or label of your choice when the books arrive, and if you want it reflected in the catalog, you will need to have access to updating your own records.
If your collections float between branches, this is an additional piece to consider. You will need to have a process for catching items that float to branches that have already been rebranded so they can be fixed. If your collections do not float, but you have multiple branches, then you will have to decide if all books will have the same label or if individual branches can make their own decisions. My recommendation is that you try to standardize, especially if it will be included in the online catalog. This will help caregivers feel more confident in trusting your system.
Another consideration for libraries that do centralized selection will be how to determine what color label a book gets. At Cuyahoga County Public Library, I determine what labels a book gets and I do it at the point of ordering. We have 28 locations and the cataloging of a book is the same for each location. To have the cataloging or processing departments take on the role of decision maker would be a change in job duties. If your library is in this situation, you definitely want to have the conversation with administrators early on so this piece can be mapped out to the agreement of all involved.
School Libraries. If you are in a large school district, you may or may not find it necessary to have all the school libraries use the same system and catalog each book in the same way. If you choose to go with a standard system, and you have more than one school librarian, this is likely to take lots of discussion to determine best practices. Writing down what is agreed upon is an excellent way to cut down on misremembering later on. If you are a single elementary school or the only librarian for a district, you will still want to create the categories you are planning to use so teachers, kids, and caregivers will be able to understand your system and thought process.
The big challenge for a school library is probably finding the time to do a large overhaul of the collection in between library instruction and class visits to check out materials. You will want to work out this piece with your administration, especially if you might need to limit access to parts of the library for short periods of time or if you want to work on the project when school is not in session, like spring break or summer vacation.
If a complete overhaul is more than you want to take on right now, you might still consider creating some kits based on the four categories that Multnomah County Library created. This is a way to support the needs of the people you serve and can be created with books already in your school or public library collection. You will need to invest in bags or boxes to house the items in. Just remember they take up space and may not fit on your regular shelving so plan accordingly.
Ultimately, you will need to decide if adding a more structured system that considers where the child is at on his or her journey to being a reader is right for your library. Whatever you decide, I recommend you not use the word level in your system. The word is loaded and can cause negative responses from the community.
Many libraries offer book discussions for school age kids. Typically, a school age book discussion will start around third grade, then there might be ones for teens, and of course for adults. However, few libraries think to have book discussions with beginning readers like those in kindergarten. The Olmsted Falls Branch entered into a partnership with the Early Childhood Center to create such a program.
The library was actually approached by the director of the Early Childhood Center, Melinda Falconi, who runs the preschool through kindergarten program for the Olmsted Falls City Schools. She had noticed that there were no reading programs for kids in kindergarten who were already reading. The initial idea for the book discussion club was to start a program for these specific kids.
Falconi found that parents of kindergarten readers were already stopping reading aloud to their children simply because they could read on their own. These parents were also moving their five-year-old children to chapter books rather than beginning readers or even picture books. So the base-level goal of the program was to keep families reading together as kids developed as individual readers.
The book discussion for kindergarteners and caregivers was first offered in 2014. Sue Grame is the children’s librarian currently working with Falconi, but the program originated with the previous children’s librarian Michelle Todd. Forming the program created a strong partnership between the library and the local schools. Each ABC Book Club is planned and attended by the public library’s children’s librarian and the director of the Olmsted Falls Early Childhood Center, and they run from October through May.
At the start of each school year, Grame shares possible titles in a meeting with Falconi. They settle on titles and then share their ideas over e-mail or before and after an evening’s book discussion. Grame tries to pick newer titles, but they have done some older titles and have even repeated ones that worked really well in previous years. They use both fiction and nonfiction picture books and discuss the different ways you can approach each type of book. Like with nonfiction, you can sometimes dip in and out of the book rather than having to read it from front to back straight through.
They each plan and present parts of the ABC Book Club. Creating engaging questions for the families around the book is done by Falconi. Things that tend to be covered when discussing the book are vocabulary, setting, characters, title, author, illustrator, and even the dedication. It is important to look at it as a whole unit and talk about all the parts that make up a book. Craft planning and finding a tie to the Common Core Standards comes from Grame. A hands-on activity helps make the book stick in a child’s mind longer. She also works with the collection development department to acquire enough copies of each title.
The first book is given out at the first meeting of the year. This means that families have not had a chance to read it yet. As a group, they read the book a couple of times to help with comprehension. The first reading tends to be with no pictures so the focus is on the words and families imagining what is happening. The second reading is with pictures and they learn if the meaning of the story changes based on the images provided by the illustrator.
After that, books are given out at the end of each month’s discussion. Families are asked to commit to coming each month and to reading and re-reading the month’s selection prior to attending the ABC Book Club so that kids have a chance to become familiar with both the words and the pictures.
Originally, teachers were asked to identify kids and a note was sent home to invite them to participate in the ABC Book Club. Over time, they opened the program up to all library users in the age group through the library’s online event calendar. While the focus in the beginning was for advanced readers, that has shifted and kids at various stages of learning to read are now welcomed. They still keep it strictly to kids in kindergarten.
To help get the word out, Cuyahoga County Public Library’s graphics department created bookmarks. The bookmarks list all the meeting dates for the year along with the titles and covers for each book that will be discussed. Having the bookmark is a personal touch that parents appreciate, and they can stick it on the refrigerator or clip it to the family calendar.
The ABC Book Club is a book discussion for both the child and the parent. Both the grown-up and the kindergartener are asked to answer book-related questions and to make the craft. Just like in storytime, they want the parents to recognize the importance of continuing to read with their new readers, to make sure they see that challenging their beginning readers is okay but that leaping into chapter books needs to be done in an age-appropriate way. While a truly gifted reader might be able to tackle the text in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at five, the context and comprehension of that text is potentially beyond a five-year-old’s grasp.
Parents who are watchers or listeners at first will, over time, start to open up and engage with the kids and the program presenters. Grame has also observed that the way Falconi talks to the kids is very important. She does not talk down to them but instead uses long words and offers lots of context to develop a kid’s vocabulary.
Since the program has a limit of 12 kids and their parents, the group has a chance to bond with each other. As they meet month after month, they become familiar with the process of the program and interacting with books with their child. Grame also notes that kids connect with her outside of the program. They talk to her when they visit the library and when she comes to visit their school.
This is one program that is easy to adopt at just about any public or school library. Whether you are able to partner with your counterpoint or not, you can reach kindergarten-age families. The budget is pretty minimal and most of the cost is optional. The only must is the cost of supplies for the craft or an activity. The expenses can be kept low by the decisions you make on what type of materials you will use. Some of the other optional expenses include providing a snack like cookies and small bottles of water. Grame sets aside $75 for a special final program like bringing in a local author or having the kids create their own ABC book that is bound for the end-of-year celebration.
Public Library. The Friends of the Library can usually help cover the cost of craft materials and snacks. If money for a last hurrah program in May cannot be acquired, it is not necessary for the program to take place. If relationships with the local school system prevent a partnership for presenting, the children’s staff can do all of the planning and presenting. However, having that school and public library connection is wonderful so think outside the box and try to make it happen when you can.
School Library. Budgets for extra supplies and snacks can be more challenging for school librarians. A possible avenue might be the Parent Teacher Association or the equivalent in your school district. If not, keep the crafts super simple or partner with the art teacher. You can also skip the snacks and special celebration and just focus on the joy of reading.
If time allows you might partner with the kindergarten teachers to present and have the caregivers invited to the school once a month for book club or it could be an afterschool or evening program. Coming from the public library side, I would also suggest reaching out to your public library counterpart. Many children’s librarians would be thrilled to come to the schools to help present, provide the multiple copies of books needed, and help share costs.
Reading up on various leveling systems will better prepare you when families come in looking for a beginning reader with only a few words per page versus a beginning reader book that has multiple sentences per page or vice versa.
Parrott, Kiera. “Fountas and Pinnell Lament Labels.” School Library Journal 63, no. 11 (November 2017): 15.
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Illustrated by Mary GrandPré. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1998 (1997). 309p. (Harry Potter). $26.99. 9780590353403.
Gillis, Jessica. In e-mail interview with the author. September 21, 2018.
Grame, Sue. In interview with the author. May 8, 2018.
O’Dell, Katie. In phone interview with the author. April 30, 2018.
“Welcome to the (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award home page!” Association for Library Service to Children. Accessed September 6, 2018. http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/geiselaward.
Clark, Summer. “What My First Grader Taught Me About Reading.” Horn Book Magazine 93, no. 5 (September 2017): 42–46.
Parrott, Kiera. “Thinking Outside the Bin.” School Library Journal 63, no. 8 (August 2017): 42–45.
Scheuer, Mary Ann. “Beyond Reading Levels: Choosing Nonfiction for Developing Readers.” School Library Journal, News & Features. August 28, 2017. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=beyond-reading-levels-choosing-nonfiction-for-developing-readers.