New Reader in the House

That's right!  Little Brother has read his first real book (as of a couple weeks...I started this post a while ago, but due computer problems and just busy life in general didn't get it finished.)  He was already interested in learning to read, but Firecracker's reward system and all the positive reinforcement she's getting has him really motivated.  For a couple weeks, when Firecracker gets some reward, Little Brother will pull out his favorite memorized books (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Goodnight Gorilla) to get in on the action.

We figured it was about time for him to read his first book for real, so we pulled out our first set of BOB books.  These were recommended to me by a firend and were also Firecracker's first books.  They are a great place to start.  The first book in the series uses only 4 letters, plus the word "on."  Then each book in the series adds a couple more letters in each book and slowly builds.  They have very simple, but engaging illustrations.

Little Brother has now mastered "Mat" and "Sam," and he's now on to book #3 "Dot."  One of the best things for our kids about these books is that they feel like they're reading "real" books and only need to know a few letters and sounds to do it.  Little Brother was SO proud of himself.

Here's a video of Little Brother reading one of the books to his birth mom when she was here for a visit.


Firecracker is has already finished filling up all 100 boxes on her reading chart, so when I made her a new one, we also made one for Little Brother!

You can find out more about BOB Books here on their website.  I think the first set is around 6.99 plus shipping on Amazon.com or you may be able to find a used set even cheaper. 


One of my favorite used books sites is Better World Books because they're often the cheapest when you consider that shipping is always free and .  I just ordered a set as a gift for about $8 (with shipping included) from Better World Books.  These would make a great Christmas present for a preschooler on your list!

P.S.  Thanks to those of your who have been concerned about our computer problems.  We're up and running with a new...and faster computer.  Our old computer was as old as Firecracker.