This week, I will be looking at beginning and transitional readers. This is a fun genre, helping readers transition to chapter books.

Keller, Laurie. "We are growing!." New York : Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group, 2016.

We Are Growing fits nicely into the category of a level one book, as outlined by Horning. It follows the standard rules of font and number of lines. The words are mainly sight words. The illustrations definitely add to the book. It’s almost as though the words compliment the pictures in this case.  This is a very fine step over the line of picture book and chapter book, but in a good way. This is also a great book for read-alouds. It is engaging and fun. This would be a great suggestion for a beginning reader. The pictures are exciting and the word size plays off of that excitement, enticing those transitional readers all the way through. 

Shannon Hale & Dean Hale (text) & illus. by LeUyen Pham, Princess in Black, Candlewick. Princess in Black, Feb. 2022

The Princess in Black fits mostly within the transitional parameters. The typeface is relatively large. The margins are large and there is plenty of white space. There are short, episodic chapters. The sentences are not broken up, but are quite short.  

Some aspects of the book fit into the level three parameters. The pictures mostly appear on every other page, but there are a few small illustrations peppered throughout. 

I would say this is a level three, transitional book. Many of the pages are 3/4th text like a level three book, but there are also several pages that have 15-25 lines like in the transitional guidelines. 

Faruqi, Saadia, and Hatem Aly. Yasmin the Explorer Picture Window Books, a Capstone imprint, 2019.

Yasmin The Explorer is a level two book. The sentences are a bit more complex and contain sight words. There are generally 5-7 words per line and less than 14 lines per page. The pictures take up about half of the space of the book, providing lots of breaks for the reader. What’s really great about this series is that there are questions in the back to prompt readers and even a glossary full of Urdu words. There are also facts and recipes to learn more about Pakistan. I am a big fan of books that introduce young readers to new words, ideas and cultures. This series really checks all of those boxes and is an excellent step up from picture books for beginning readers. 

*Note: This is not the exact Yasmin book on the syllabus, but the series is set up the same. 

Butler, Dori Hillestad. and Kevin R Free. King & Kayla and the Case of Found Fred. Unabridged. [United States], Recorded Books, Inc, 2019.

I would also categorize King & Kaylan and the Case of Found Fred as a level two book. The typeface is a bit smaller than the Yasmin series, but it follows the other guidelines. The illustrations are peppered throughout, leaving about half the page for the story. There are not many lines per page. The average is about 10 lines per page. The amount of illustrations in this book would entice an early reader, especially picture book lovers as there is an illustration on every page. 

*Note: This is not the exact Yasmin book on the syllabus, but the series is set up the same.