Well, I just noticed I was supposed to have my MotherTalk review of “BOB Books: Set One, Beginning Readers” up yesterday. Sorry. Life keeps getting in the way.

BOB Books are cute! My daughter (5 1/2) is a beginning reader and was definitely interested in checking them out when they arrived. We both loved the cute characters, simple illustrations, and sense of humor. The set contains twelve small books which start very simply and gradually build in difficulty — adding new sounds and new sight words.

I was cooking dinner when she picked them up so I didn’t really give her much instruction. She picked out one of the harder books and was instantly frustrated. As I explained what the idea was (starting with book one and moving forward), she gave it another try. After going in that direction, she plowed through the first seven books or so with ease. They really have an interesting way of scaffolding a new reader through increasing levels of difficulty. And this was in the matter of fifteen or twenty minutes. The new sounds added are introduced at the beginning of each new book, which provides some advance organization before reading.

The other thing I liked was that many of the words and names were uncommon combinations of simple sounds (names like Jig and Mag and Mac) — these are words that she doesn’t see or use much, so I could see the wheels turning as she really had to figure them out, rather than relying on memorization or sight. I would definitely give them a thumbs up.