What makes the Up With Reading™ books different?
These books are written for students who have already been introduced to word decoding, basic phonics, and some sight words. The series begins at mid-1st grade, advancing gradually to high 3rd grade level. All of the books are chapter books.
Struggling readers are often embarrassed because the books that are available to them that are at their reading level may seem too young for them. With mostly pictures and only a few words per page, they don’t want others to see what they are reading. These bright students are also bored with the low-interest content. Up With Reading™ chapter books offer a really different positive choice for frustrated readers.
The readability level of each Up With Reading™ book advances in a way that gives the student more time to memorize new sight words and to improve phonetic decoding skills.
The principle of controlled vocabulary has been carefully applied in a way that works for readers who need more time to master new words and word families.
New words are carefully introduced in a systematic and sequential way. Word repetition throughout each book is not obvious to the reader. Repetition of controlled vocabulary helps students to increase the number of words that they have mastered and they begin to recognize more and more words when they appear again in the story.
The books use an uncluttered easy-to-read font style. Letter size, spacing, and the number of characters per line have been guided by the findings of research studies conducted by experts in the field of dyslexia and specific reading disabilities.
The text is clear, with black print on cream paper. The text is not printed over any illustrations, which is frequently visually confusing for new or struggling readers.
There are only a few illustrations in each of the Up With Reading™ books, which is related to the readability and educational value of the stories. How many parents have been surprised to discover that their very bright child isn’t actually reading very much of their favorite book, but has memorized the words on each page. The illustrations and other visual clues are contributing a great deal to the student’s ability to know which part of the story is written on each page.
Up With Reading™ books are specially designed so that children will learn how to read, rather than memorize the story, and that is why they include only a few illustrations.
Some beginning reader books have the text superimposed over lovely colorful art. Even if the color palette is pale, for many students this interferes with their ability to clearly see, decode, read, and remember the words.
Up With Reading™ books are not meant to be read right away as bedtime stories. They should be put aside to be used only as a tool for learning how to read. After the student has mastered the book’s vocabulary and is able to read fluently without help, if the story has become a favorite it can be fun for parents, grandparents, and others to read it aloud.
None of the Up With Reading™ books is meant as a replacement for the many beautifully illustrated children’s books or for the hundreds of wonderful books that are written as literature for young people. Up With Reading™ books have been developed through the application of solid principles for teaching reading, while at the same time the stories are engaging and of high interest. They are meant for students who need books that they want to read and that they also are able to learn to read. Students can then begin to see themselves as readers, which leads them to want to read more.
Watch for the new Up With Reading ™ series
Summer 2019