Customer Reviews

Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers

5 star:		(182)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

To see more reviews, check out the item in its previous packaging (the content has not changed) by looking up ISBN 0439145449.

Bob Books come in 5 sets on 3 levels, and they cover the fundamentals of reading through about half of the Kindergarten level, which is lower than either of the other programs. Each set contains 8-12 books for the child to read, with a line or two of text per page.

Unlike many programs, there is little to no direction for the parent. However, they are carefully crafted to introduce the sounds in a systematic and maximally rewarding way, as well as carefully choosing sight words. The very first book requires that the child know the sounds of only four letters (M, A, S, T) and one sight word (on). The rest of the first set of 12 books (12 pages each) introduces the rest of the alphabet and short-vowel sounds, carefully reviewing everything learned, as well as a handful of high-utility sight words. The second set of 12 books (12 pages each) reinforces what was learned in the first set with more text per page, more plurals, more sight words, and a few blends. The second level begins with the third set, which has 10 books (16 pages each) and introduces more text, more blends, and some compound words, while the fourth set (4 with 16 pages and 4 with 24 pages) has more blends, more sight words, and long compound words. The final set, in the third level (4 with 16 pages and 4 with 24 pages), has longer stories and introduces long vowels.

The thing my son likes most is that I'm not telling him what to do most of the time, and he doesn't have to repeat books!
Some parents find that the level of progression slows after the first set, but we're going to do them all. It helps my son acquire speed and fluency painlessly.

This isn't sufficient to bring a child to the end of the Kindergarten level, but it gets them reading basic books very fast! Many people like the later part of Nora Gaydos' series to follow up. I will use an out-of-print series that I got from my aunt for free :-) called Scholastic Phonics Ready Readers (ISBN 0439325099 and others) starting with books 37. Afterwards, there are many classic early reader books that he can read, like Little Bear and Frog and Toad.

The only bad points: The words are handwritten, which means that despite the excellent handwriting, there is some inconsistency in spacing and letter shapes that will give some readers problems. Also, if your child likes to gaze for a l-o-n-g time at every picture, painless swifty becomes agaonizing. For that case, I recommend McGuffey's Eclectic Readers

I have to admit, when I first got the Bob Books for my son, I was very excited about them. I thought the gradual pace of vowel and consonant introduction would make reading easier and give a natural progression. My 4-year old son read the first 3 or 4 books in the series, we were both excited, and all was well. I was thinking 4 or 5 stars.

Then within a week, my son refused to read the books. I knew that he could - he was certainly capable - but anytime I mentioned them, he would whine, complain and tell me that he didn't want to. This from the boy who is a book nut and would have me read to him 24-7 if possible! He would sit with me so I could read other books to him, and even try to read them himself, but wanted nothing to do with the Bob Books. This went on for months with the same response.

It wasn't until I started doing a bunch of literacy reading and research for my job that I realized the probable reason why the Bob Books are gathering dust on our shelves when all of the other books are well loved. They are dull. They are boring and can hardly be qualified as stories. Does anyone really talk like that? "Mat sat. Cat sat. Mat and cat sat." No wonder he would rather I read him books like "The Complete Book of Farmyard Tales" by Heather Amery or "Frederick" by Leo Lionni or classic tales like "The Gingerbread Man" or "The Fox and the Crow."

In my research, I came across two books that I highly recommend to anyone who wants their child to learn to read. These are "The Read Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease and "Reading Magic" by Mem Fox. Trelease talks about the pleasure aspect of reading - humans want to do things that give them pleasure and shy away from things that don't, it's just human nature. When we make reading more of a chore for a child or give them boring books to read, we are taking away that aspect of pleasure that will make them want to read.

A national committee called the Commission on Reading (funded by the US Dept of Education) did a 2-year study of thousand of research projects related to reading. Their report had two primary findings. The first is that the single most important activity to build success in reading is to read aloud to your children. The second is to continue reading aloud to them throughout the grades. (Yep, that means through high school, not just until they can read themselves.)

So choose books and stories for your children that they will enjoy - and that you will enjoy! Build their library and read to them as often as you can - in the morning, before bed, while they are eating lunch, while they play in the tub, use books on CD in the car, etc. If you don't know where to start, "The Read Aloud Handbook" has a list of over 1000 suggested titles in various categories to read to children. My son was reading at just over 4 years old and, other than the Bob Books failure, all I ever did was read to him. And read and read.

I saw these books a few years ago and figured they were too easy, but I was running into a problem. I could not get my (then 5 year old) little girl to read books. She was reading all of her lessons with little if any trouble, but when I would try to get her to read the same words in a book she wanted nothing to do with it. I set these books in front of her and she read all 12. They didn't help her to learn to read, but they were a great help in getting her to read and to enjoy reading.

I am now teaching my second child to read. I LOVE THESE BOOKS!!!! They are really helping her figure out how to read.

I had heard about the Bob books for several years. And my four year old is just starting to read. We tried them. I thought they would be great! But, I also found two sets of Level 1 Readers from the Now I'm Reading series. They're the same size and length, but my daughter loves the Now I'm Reading Readers. In contrast to the Bob Books, which are black and white, the Now I'm Reading readers are colorful and humorous. Before you buy the bob books, check out the Now I'm Reading books. You can see a preview on Amazon of both Bob Books and the Now I'm Reading books or a lot of stores carry them now so you can look at them in person.

A couple notes about short readers...
1) Bob books are black and white. If you have a very visual reader, you might want to find some that are color or that you are comfortable with them coloring in. (25 mini-books that teach word families is a set of books you can copy and let them color).
2) These books will help younger readers gain confidence. Most of my friends that like these books have two, three, or four year olds. Older readers who are practicing their phonics and are five or six may not enjoy these as much. The Now I'm Reading readers are more like the picture books with color that other kids in their classes would be reading. But, note that the Now I'm Reading readers do include more sight words than the Bob Books. This can take a little more repetition to help students really be able to read them.
3) Take it slow. Studies have shown that whether a child reads well before age 5 is not a predictor that they will be a good reader who loves to read later on. Actually, it's a predictor that they won't. I've seen it in myself--the feeling that they need to start learning now! But, really, they don't. They (and we) can take our time and enjoy the process of them learning to read! So don't get discouraged if it's a struggle for them to learn to read--it will come--in time. It's a bit like potty training, I think. Just when you think they're not ever going to get it, then they do!

I am an educator. I could probably write books like these and illustrate them as well after seeing them over and over, BUT THEY WORK. For the money -you can't ask for better. IN CONJUNCTION with all the other tools one can use, these are one of the great helps in jumpstarting reading for your young one. My 4 year old son is already reading at a first grade level after using these books. The reason for his success with them is 1) I sit with him, helping him sound out the letters 2)Small rewards are given for each book read, and Big rewards for each Set completed 3) The books are QUICK reads(10 pages or so) making a kid feel successful right away. 4) The drawings give contextual clues, without showing other distracting elements as you find in other books -it shows only what NEEDS to be shown 5) The plots are silly -but enjoyable by little kids especially if you laugh with them. "Mat Sat on on the Cat" ha ha! Also recommended would be the Leapster L-Max and the game "Letters on the Loose" -BEFORE reading begins, children need to really know their letters and the sounds they make or they will be quite frustrated with the process.

These are the best "learning to read" books that I have found. They have totally boosted my son's confidence. They were recommended by his kindergarten teacher.

My son is about to start Kindergarden. My Son LOVES< LOVES> LOVES these books. It was a gift from his great aunt who is a teacher. The box says kids will want (and be able)to read the books to you and everybody else they know. Boy is that right! Anyone who comes to the house, and a few people we go visit, have to hear my son read - and he really reads them himself! What a great confidence booster for his first year of school. Very highly recommended. Actually, the reason I came to Amazon.com today was to buy the other sets!

These books are very good for beginning readers. They are phonics based. The books get progressively harder, but stay at a beginning level. As a first grade teacher I use them in August to review the short vowel sounds the children learned in Kindergarten. The only thing that could be improved are the illustrations.

I got recommendation for Bob books from my kid's school teacher. I liked the content but for the price I paid for this, I expected better pictures. It seemed like the publisher skimped on colors etc. At times my kid asks that the book says 'red car'then why isn't car red? Well, because publisher saved a penny there! Either this needs to be a bit cheaper or the quality needs to be improved.

However, the reading content is very good. My kid is enjoying it and learning words. I would recommend this to beginner readers.

I bought this series on a recommendation from my daughter's pre-school teacher. I could tell my daugher was starting to recognize words, could eaily memorize and had some sound and word recognition. This series has been great. She likes to read the books on her own...because very quickly she can. This is a great beginning to read series...