I’ve always suggested to parents that are teaching their children to read or when I’m tutoring their children that they should use Bob Books for beginning reading. They are great stories for children who are just beginning to sound out words using the phonograms they just learned.
I recently found that many of them are available for checkout at Internet Archive. I’ve include a link below to a Microsoft Lists database that I put together of all the books available at Internet Archive. You can check these books out for an hour at a time, which is typically plenty of time for your child to read them.
I still recommend that parents purchase the hard copy of the books. Amazon has them. Some of the Bob Books at Internet Archive refer you to other places to buy the books as well. And you can always check your local library. When I was teaching Ella to read I checked them out from our library.
My plan is to add to the database other books for beginning readers. There appear to be many other books available but I want to take a closer look at them before adding them.
When tutoring a fourth grader this summer I used Internet Archive to have him read to me from Bridge to Terabithia. He was also interested in a few sports books, and I read those as well so we could discuss them during a session.
In my search for beginner reading books, I also came across Sam Books. These are public domain books that I’ve collected in a folder and have made them available here:
These are a lot like Bob Books. Children often find them funny so even though you might think them silly and uninteresting, children see them differently. They are great for beginning readers who are just learning to sound out the phonograms. Give them a try as well! The first few are a little slow, but they get better. There are a few phonograms that come much later but you can help your child by sharing the sounds, i.e. “ee” says long e.
Enjoy!
