A few months ago I talked about some of my favorite Early Reader books. This month I want to focus on decodable books, which is defined in the August 4, 2025 issue of Publishers Weekly as, “simple texts focused on phonics and phonemic awareness” (page 21). The article, Cracking Decodable Books, goes on to say that this type of book is “key for teaching readers how to segment words and blend sounds to form words, thereby ‘decoding’ texts.” While some words, called Sight Words, can be memorized so a child recognizes without having to sound it out, other words need to be figured out. If a child knows the word cat, they can decode scat by putting the s sound in front of the word cat. So sometimes the two techniques go hand in hand, but it’s so important to teach a child to read, not just to memorize words.
Bob Books
The Publishers Weekly article points out that Scholastic’s Bob books are one of the first decodable series, and the first books in the series were published in 1994. The books are still popular today, although my library now buys them as bound books rather than as boxes of a dozen or so small, individual books. There is a range of book sets that focus on different levels of reading, and there are workbooks that you can get to support the learning process. The Bob books may have been around for thirty years, but there’s a reason they are still popular – it’s because they work. So give them a shot.
My First Decodable Stories
Pet Shop Panda series
In 2022 DK teamed up with Phonic Books, a company that already had its own list of hundreds of decodable books, and the resulting DK Super Phonics books are an excellent way to start teaching letter sounds. In the Pet Shop Panda series, Ben the Panda “helps look after the animals at his Grandpa’s pet shop.” There are games, a word list at the back of each book, and even a Parent’s Guide to Phonics. Other sets of My First Decodable Stories include Fix-It Foxes, Haircut Hippos, and Deli Dogs.
Budding Blossom Stories
Cherry Lake Publishing Group publishes several series of decodable books, including the Budding Blossoms Stories. These books are the next step after phonological awareness, building on that and using CVC words to create stories that are simple and engaging. CVC words consist of a Consonant, Vowel, Consonant, such as mom, dog, and bed. They are really easy for kids who know their letter sounds to read, because they are so straightforward. You almost can’t go wrong when sounding them out. You can use CVC words to help kids with reading by focusing on rhymes – if a child can read the word cat, they should be able to decode words like rat, bat, and pat. (Unrelated to the Budding Blossoms series, I feel like I have to mention The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat here.)
Drumbeat Decodables
Drumbeat Decodables from Lee & Low
It’s important for kids to see people who are like themselves in the books they read, and it’s important to see people who are different. Diverse books are critical tools in teaching kids to be culturally sensitive, and we are seeing more and more diverse books. The OwnVoices hashtag on social media reminds us that the best representation of a culture is one written by a member of that culture. With that in mind, Lee & Low brings to market “the first Indigenous authored and illustrated phonics titles available in the U.S.” There are five titles available now and the next eight are scheduled for publication in 2026.
Check out Miss Michelle’s Book Nook
Miss Michelle shares her book recommendations each month on the In Our Homeschool blog. Find links to all of her posts here.
Miss Michelle is the sister of Kristen, who writes this blog. She has a daughter who is 10 and a son who is 6. They are not home-schooled, but Miss Michelle is super supportive and proud of her sister for doing it. She has been a full-time Children’s Librarian for over 17 years and loves to recommend her favorite books. You can follow her on Goodreads, where she keeps track of books she has read for storytime, at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/170007385-miss-michelle.
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