They're short books that start very simply--only a few words in each sentence, with two or three letter words, and emphasis on short vowel sounds. Here is a glimpse of a set of pages in the first book.
Book one focuses on the short "a" sound, book two--the short "e" sound, book three--the short "i", and so on. And each book builds on the previous ones. The last book in this set has longer sentences and looks something like this.
The illustrations are not fancy, but I've actually found that to be beneficial. Beginning readers are less distracted by elaborate pictures, and are less tempted to tell the story based on the pictures instead of the words.
The sets progress at a good rate. The first set focuses on beginning sounds and short vowels. The next couple sets work on letter blends and introducing more sight words. The later sets work on long vowel sounds.
I'm posting this tonight for two reasons. First, because several friends have asked for beginning reading suggestions, and Bob books are something I highly recommend. (Along with Leapfrog's Talking Letter Factory for learning letter sounds.) And second, because I'm proud to share that Ashlyn just completed this first set! It wasn't anything we pushed her to do--she said she wanted to be able to read like her big sister. (And the two jelly beans we gave her each time she read a new book to us didn't hurt either.) We didn't expect her to pick these up so quickly, but she has surprised us and we're very proud of her!
We've got the next couple sets from when Emma was learning to read, and Ashlyn asked today about getting started on those. But I think I'll have her go back through the first set one more time. I noticed that when we went through a set a second time with Emma, her confidence really grew. And that confidence helped carry her into each new set, where the words and sentences grew a little more challenging.
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