Phonics reading list
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Phonics reading list includes a list of beneficial books that can be read by a child learning by phonics. Large print is essential for a young reader (Century Schoolbook, 28-point font is ideal),[1] and is freely or affordably available for each of these:
- First Reader - the 165-instruction book that should be used again and again, like a bible
- the Gospel of Mark (with merely a few omissions/changes for children as available here), starting with the simple Mark Chapter 1
- A Child's Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson (Dover, Children's Thrift Classics, "In Easy-to-Read Type," 1992) - a collection of 64 charming poems with many phonetic rhymes
- Great poems,[2] which reinforce phonics with their rhymes and are freely available, including:
- A Poison Tree, by William Blake
- Walrus and the Carpenter, by Lewis Carroll
- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost (available at his link here, and also here)
- Old Mother Goose and Other Nursery Rhymes ("A Little Golden Book," published in 1948 and again in 1988 by Western Publishing Company, Inc., Racine, Wisconsin 53404)
- Bible Stories for Children, retold by Geoffrey Horn and Arthur Cavanaugh, Illustrated by Arvis Steward (Macmillan Publishing Co. NY 1980) (easy-to-read print with artwork, but flaws in using this book for children include (i) its inclusion of the gruesome John the Baptist death, (ii) its exaggerated use of elderly images in its artwork, and (iii) its dilution of biblical facts, such as Jesus sweating blood during the Passion and demons actually cast out of victims).
- The History of Minecraft - if the reader has an interest in that popular program. This interesting article uses years, numbers, capitalization, possessive form, and other elements of style not learned from reading the Bible; this article is also good practice for the "ti" sound.
- Also good for Minecraft players is to read 5 open source alternatives to Minecraft
- excerpts from Shakespeare plays, such as Friends, Romans, Countrymen from Julius Caesar
- Aesop's Fables[3]
- a collection of fun poems for kids[4]
- poems by Robert Louis Stevenson
- the United States Constitution, starting with its Preamble. The Constitution is filled with phonetic words. State constitutions, too.
- popular nursery rhymes
- public domain detective stories: the first three novels in The Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon (The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff, and The Secret of the Old Mill)[5]
- Sherlock Holmes works, all of which entered the public domain as of Jan. 1, 2023[6] - reading level is around grade 8
- Poems Every Child Should Know, by Mary E. Burt[7]
More advanced authors
More advanced authors are:
- G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories (ages 8 to 12)
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (Fable) and other poems by him
- Emily Dickinson
- C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (ages 6-12) and The Chronicles of Narnia (rated at grade levels 5 or 6)
See also
- Illiteracy
- Literacy
- Mistakes Due to Lack of Phonics
- Phonics mistakes
- Book finder that estimates the reading level
- Classical Christian Reading list (unvetted for potential political bias)
- Bob Jones University Press - rigorous and independent of the university in content, but the print size can be smaller than some may desire
References
- ↑ Large print is particularly helpful for children who do not sit still, or who have any kind of learning issues. Large print may be better on the eyes of all children.
- ↑ See also Poetry Foundation.
- ↑ https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19994/pg19994-images.html
- ↑ https://poets.org/text/poems-kids
- ↑ https://www.richlandsource.com/area_history/public-domain-makes-artistic-works-available-published-in-1927-before/article_300b067c-90b3-11ed-b1d0-2bbf0785a32e.html
- ↑ https://reason.com/2023/01/02/now-anybody-can-write-a-sherlock-holmes-story/#:~:text=Now%2C%20after%20more%20than%20130,character%20in%20a%20published%20work.
- ↑ Available online at https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16436/pg16436-images.html