Early reader books are considered the "earliest" chapter book a child can experience. Broken up into smaller chapters, early readers are a great way to boost confidence in young readers. While typically aimed at ages 5-9, they're enjoyed by all, known by various names like easy, emerging, transitional, or beginning readers.
These books share several common characteristics: simple vocabulary, short sentences, engaging stories, and relatable characters. Even with these shared characteristics, early readers vary widely in their complexity of themes, storylines, and language. Some publishers place early readers into multi-level reading programs—called levelled readers—such as our Engage Literacy levelled reading program. Other publishers feature consistently levelled, character-driven early reader series, like Raintree's ever-popular Katie Woo and Yasmin titles.
From action-packed adventures and achievable mysteries to laugh-out-loud humour and character-driven fiction, early readers have a little of everything—for everyone. Raintree have early readers spanning across fiction and nonfiction, including books in nearly every genre built to be read independently. For children drawn to realistic fiction full of fun, familiar characters, such as Katie Woo and Yasmin are a perfect match. Readers engaged by these lively characters will return to them again and again, seeking more books in the series and returning to old favourites.
For these same reasons, many bestselling early readers feature recognizable characters from movies, TV, or even picture book series such as Batman™, Superman™, Wonder Woman™ and Scooby-Doo™. Books featuring licensed characters—or media tie-in books—are excellent entry points for beginning readers. Familiarity is inherent to these books. Even before turning the first page, children will more than likely have a strong base knowledge of these characters and their environments.
Early Readers are perfect for children moving on from decodable reading scheme books, such as Red Squirrel Phonics, to independent reading. Perhaps the biggest draw of early readers are the images. With illustrations on every page, newly independent readers can more easily decipher the text through the action-packed imagery, propelling them from one page to the next until the story ends.
Introducing children to high-quality early readers increases their potential to become proficient readers at an early age. But what should you consider when selecting a high-quality early reader? Here are three quick tips when choosing a book for your emerging reader:
- Choose books that match a child’s interests, or—better yet—let the child choose for themselves!
Learning to read independently often coincides with a child’s eagerness for independent thought. They want to choose their own clothes, their own toys, their own foods, and, of course, their own books. If they enjoy what they’re reading about, they’ll soon enjoy the act of reading itself. - Explore different formats and genres.
Does your emerging reader gravitate toward comic books? Don’t be shy—graphic novels are books too! These heavily illustrated books often draw in struggling and reluctant readers, and there’s a reason for that (besides comic books being super cool!). Comic books allow emerging readers to interpret a story through images, often called visual literacy, and can reduce reading anxiety, allowing children to move through a story even before they can read. In addition, the close picture-text match in comic books and graphic novels allow readers to decode words more easily, building the foundations of reading. - Select books of an achievable length.
Early readers vary greatly in word count and length. For some children, 24 pages might be the perfect fit, while others need a more substantial challenge. Allow readers to determine the best fit for themselves. The key here is for readers to experience success and, in turn, build confidence in their reading abilities. Start them with low page count series and, as their reading abilities and confidence grows, build toward slightly longer easy readers.
Supplying your emerging reader with high-quality early reader books featuring their favourite characters—like the ones at Raintree—will help create proficient, eager readers for years to come. And, in no time, these readers will be seeking chapter books to add to their book list (if, that is, they’re willing to leave their favourite early reader characters behind.)
