Customer Reviews

Dora the Explorer Phonics Boxed Set #1

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My son just got these - 12 books in a neat little carrying box with a handle. He loves Dora, and is just starting to want to read. They have easy words, large typeset, short sentences, and use all the Dora characters. We have to read every book every day at least once! He should be reading it on his own in no time.

My daughter is a kindergartener, coming out of two years at a Montessori Pre-school. Last year she was working on an advanced kindergarten curriculum, so she has been reading for about a year now. I purchased this set for her since she has completed the Modern Press First Phonics Series. She was very excited about the Dora books, but they were definitely not an easy read for her. She needed help with sounding out three letter combination sounds (str) and compound words. I recommend the books only if you are looking to challenge a beginning reader.

We love this box set and the second Dora phonics series too. Each book focuses on one phonics lesson (the first series runs through the vowels, the second gets into consonant blends, etc). Also, each book has a little phonics lesson on the inside cover that introduces phonics sounds and new words, high frequency words and challenging words. The stories are fun and feature all the familiar characters. Our kids love them and are so excited to be able to read them too. There is even one story where Dora and Boots are nice to Swiper and invite him to a party!

If your kid is a Dora fan, this is a nice set to give them. It's comprised of 12 short books featuring Dora and her friends taking part in various adventures, all with the trademark bright colors. Each book emphasizes words with a certain sound -- for example, long e, short a, "ch" or silent "e" ending (as in "have" or "love"). My daughter just turned 2, so we just read and enjoy them together, without getting wrapped up in the learning-to-read aspect. But when she is ready, the short, simple sentences and large type will undoubtedly help, as will each book's focus on a particular sound.

My daughter (who is going to be 3 soon) is a big Dora fan. I got this book set based on her liking of the character. Although its nice, its not an easy read nor is there a repeatability in the pattern. She had been gifted for her 2nd B'day with a Clifford book set, which she really knew to read on her own. (Of course she memorized the flow of sentences). Even though she has been owning the Dora for 6 months or so till now, she has not been able to read this all by herself. So I find that the Clifford book works more for her!!!

These Dora phonic books are suitable with more advanced reading skills. Beginning readers will have trouble reading them on their own. Book 1 has words such as "adventures", and "spacecraft". The Clifford phonic books are better for beginner readers.

Our daughter was a huge fan of Dora -- Dora shoes, shirts, umbrella, you name it! This book set was a great incentive for her. We worked through them together, and by the time she finished book 12 she had "got it" and moved right into reading other books and continuing to learn.

The vocabulary review at the start of each book was useful; sometimes we would work on those first, other times she would just want to try the story. I was a bit surprized at first because they sprinkle in some long words in many stories (e.g. rocket ship) instead of the just the usual single syllable "See Spot run" stuff. But I became a believer -- usually she could figure them out by context without much trouble, and they got her over any "that's too long for me" fears.

Overall: if your child loves Dora, I think this is a very successful and motivating program to begin learning to read.

I bought this in the hope of helping teach my 4 year old girl to read. Although the box with all the little books are fun, it is more advanced than I had hoped. I was hoping for less words per page & smaller words. It works for reading to her & selecting a few words to sound out, but you don't get the feeling of accomplishment you would get if she could read the whole page - or even a sentence.

My 4-year old grandaughter loves this book. And it helps her with sounds.

the only way these can work as a beginner reader set is if your child is a very very good beginner reader or gifted and picks up on reading quickly. Otherwise these would be way too hard for a beginner reader, just learning to read. If you have a 1st or 2nd grader already reading and can read books like Biscuit and Are You My Mother by Dr. suess, then these may be the books for you. It is a pretty good price for 12 books, but keep in mind they only have 8 pages of actual reading, the other 8 pages are pictures only, So each time you turn the page, one side of the page is reading on white back ground and the otherside is a colored picture.

Goes like this for the book Snowy Day:
Page 1, It is a snowy day!
It is so cold that
the river froze.
We can go skating.

Page 2
whoa!
It is so slippery!
We need to go slow
so we don't fall down.
uh-oh!
Hold on, Boots!
I'm coming.

Page 3
whew!
That was close.
We both almost fell.
Brrrr..
When the wind blows
I am cold.
Let's go home.

Page 4
Oh, no!
Map shows that
the road home
goes over the Grumpy Old
Troll's bridge.
I hope we know
the answer to his riddle.

Page 5
Grumpy Old Troll says,
"IT starts up high
and falls down low,
in between it swirls
and blows.
What is it?
Do you know?

There are three more pages of reading after this.