Melinda Thompson

I love colourful books, and this book was absolutely colourful! If you want to grab your reader's attention (especially young readers!) having a book stand out is a must! This book wants to stand out since it is for learning purposes, so I really appreciated the bright appeal it offered.

Cat and Rat starts out as a wordless book, which is intriguing. It's for young readers (preschool to first grade) who are learning to read. Then it moves to Book 2 and each page only has one simple word for the reader to read out. For example, "see" using a variety of expressions (!, ., ?). The book continues to expand with 3 words, and so on.

I thought this was really intriguing! I haven't seen books like this before but I think it's a really handy tool! If you are working with your kids to get them to read more, then this type of book is totally worth your while! It's something so different and out there that I have to say I'm impressed! Eventually the story is all fleshed out with many words and makes you see the big picture.

I think educators would love this tool! It's a cute book and very fun! I'd absolutely recommend this book for those trying to teach any child to read.

Five out of five stars!

I found this book for free via Bookbub deals!… (más)

Budding Reader Book set 1: Cat and Rat By Melinda Thompson and Doug Oglesby with Melissa Ferrell
This book starts out with other books in the set
There are no words, that I can see, just pictures of a cat and a rat. I think you are to ask what is happening and the child can create their own story.
Second book is called See and using the same pictures from the first story you can 'see' what others are seeing.
See the rat is next 'the rat' is highlighted word to learn
Cat is next word in next chapter to learn. Can is the next.
You, at, look, and, stop, that are new words and look at the sentences you can create.
There is also a free parent guide available.… (más)

(ARC was provided to read and review.)

The quality of the books took me by surprise and it's no wonder, it's an award-winning series. Each of the five Budding Reader Book sets comprises of 10 small books, where the first is a mere picture book without words and every following book in the set uses the same pictures and step by step more and more words are introduced.

In this set, Hens, we find in book 2 two words, look and see, and in book 3 we learn two more words and that way it continues all the way up to book 10, where the young reader is already challenged with easy complete sentences, like "The chicks are in the hen house."
The emphasis of this set lies on the pronounciation of the short "e" vowel sound and cleverly even the names of the two hens (Jen and Em) are chosen to practise it.
The vivid and cheerful illustrations are of outstanding quality, I don't think Pixar or Disney could do a better job.

I tried the books with my son (he's 4), at one of my charities with a group of children (around 6 yrs. old) with learning disabilities and at summer school with a group of adults, where the first language wasn't English. Each time the outcome was a very positive result. The learning experience turned into fun and even the most reluctant reader felt encouraged.

There are 5 sets in the series available, one for each vowel, and the BuddingReader website offers a free companion writing worksheet to go along with the books as well as a free guide for parents.

A first class concept for learning with joy and first class results. Highly recommended.… (más)