The Best Books for Learning to Read: Decodable Books Guide

How to Select the Best Decodable Books for Beginning Readers

If you have a child learning to read, then you need to know how to choose the best books to help your child make the leap from learning sounds to reading books. But what does it mean to decode? And how does this help children learn to read? 

Decoding means using knowledge of letter shapes and the sounds they represent to read words and sentences. This is often referred to as phonics. Decodable books for beginning readers provide practice in decoding simple words using letters and sounds they have already learned. It’s important to get your child reading books as soon as they learn the sounds because it gives that knowledge a useful purpose. Your child’s confidence and motivation for reading will grow when they successfully read simple decodable books.

Are Decodable Books and Levelled Books the Same?

The short answer is no. Levelled books usually contain too many words that are not easily decoded by beginning readers. Decodable books contain words that can be sounded out when the reader has learned those letter sounds.

Levelled Books are divided into categories based on a summary of their overall vocabulary, sentence structure, comprehension levels, and content. They are often labelled A-Z. To read them, children often have to rely on picture clues, repeated text patterns, and adult support. Levelled books do not provide the simple practice with learned letter-sound correspondences that help children build fluent sight word vocabulary based on connections between spelling, pronunciation, and meaning. 

Decodable Books are great for practicing phonics skills because they provide early reading success. When your child reads a decodable book, they should be using their knowledge of letter sounds to decode the words. Once they have learned most of the phonemes and are feeling confident in their reading ability, they will be excited to tackle more challenging levelled books.

If you move on to more challenging books and then notice your child is developing a habit of guessing the words, revisit the decodable books. This will help reinforce that reading is not about guessing. Reading is about using the sounds the letters represent to decode words and understand what they mean. With lots of reading practice, new words are mapped into memory and become sight words which can be instantly recalled.    

What to Look for in a Decodable Book

Are they actually decodable?

A decodable book should provide easy reading practice with already learned letter-sound correspondences. Most decodable books will also contain high frequency words, such as the, and, I, it, is, you, to, of, in, and a. These linking words are needed to write basic sentences, so your child should be familiar with them.  

Are they engaging? 

Children want to read books that draw them into the story and make reading enjoyable. This raises a challenge for decodable books because of the limited vocabulary.

Some ways authors make decodable books engaging are through humor, rhythm, repetition, playful language, and surprising plot twists. When children enjoy reading, they find it easier to practice the skills they need to become a strong reader.

Are the characters and themes relatable?

Children enjoy reading books with lovable characters and everyday situations that they can relate to. They feel comfortable when they see themselves and their life experiences reflected in the stories. Children also like to learn about the world around them, so it’s a good idea to add non-fiction books as their reading ability grows.  

Do the illustrations add to the story line?

Decodable books should have quality illustrations that enhance the storyline in a way that encourages your child to decode the text. Lovable characters and age appropriate, detailed scenes make the experience more interactive and support comprehension. However, to be a decodable book, you should be able to cover the picture, and your child can still read the text. 

Your child will be more motivated to read when the books are actually decodable based on their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences. Having too many undecodable words in a book slows the reading down and is exhausting and frustrating. 

As your child’s knowledge of letter/sound correspondences expands, look for decodable books that break stories into chapters. This makes the reading more manageable. Long stories and too many words on a page can be intimidating for early readers.  

How to Find Good Decodable Books

Early readers move through decodable books quickly, often memorizing them after a couple of read throughs. We encourage you to borrow them from the library, school, and friends, look in your local “little free library”, or buy used copies. 

You can even get creative and write simple decodable phrases and sentences using the sounds and words your child has learned.

Encourage your child to work along with you to write and illustrate a decodable book together. A whiteboard or folded paper booklet can be used for this activity.

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• How to choose books for beginner readers
• Our guide to the best decodable readers available in a library or book store near you
  
• The #1 thing you need to practice
• A bonus gift for you!