Grades K-2

Life of Jesus

Book cover: 'Life of Jesus'

We put this poster up in our upstairs hallway thinking that the colorful pictures would be attractive to the little ones and help them develop a better understanding of the Life of Jesus. The full color drawings are attractive but dignified. It's been a big hit so far. I find my six year old reading words here and there, my four year old asking about what happens in different pictures and my two year old pointing to her favorite scenes. The pictures include simple descriptions and dialogue along with Biblical references.

Along the Paths of the Gospel Series

Book cover: 'Along the Paths of the Gospel Series'
These little saint stories, beautifully illustrated by Augusta Curelli, are very appealing to children because of the nice hardcover format and the full-color pictures on each page. The moderate amount of text (about 4-10 lines per page) makes it fairly accessible to beginning or reluctant readers. We found this series to be an excellent help to our eight year old son who was struggling with reading. I was delighted at how much he enjoyed reading about the saints and he didn't even mind reading about the girl saints.

The Magic Tree House Series

Book cover: 'The Magic Tree House Series'
Author(s): 
Mary Pope Osborne
In this series, 8 year old Jack and his 7 year old sister Annie travel to a different time period in each installment. The series begins with Dinosaurs Before Dark in which Jack and Annie find a tree house that has mysteriously appeared near their home in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. In the tree are lots of books. In one particular book, Jack and Annie see scenes of various places and time periods. At the page of the dinosaurs, they say they wish they could go there. Then, presto-magic, the tree house plops down in the middle of dinosaur time.

Ready for Reading! A Learn-to-Read Series, Set 2 (Caterpillar Books)

Book cover: 'Ready for Reading! A Learn-to-Read Series, Set 2'
Author(s): 
Laura Callahan Busch

In a similar fashion to the first set, these books offer additional, more advanced, reader/activity books that combine practice of lots of phonics based words with a number of sight words (some of the sight words could be learned phonetically later on). By the time the child is finished with this second series, he will have practiced 62 phonics-based words (such as Dad, jet, him, stop and bug) and 25 sight words (such as love, you, the, Mommy and room).

Ready for Reading! A Learn-to-Read Series, Set 1 (Ant Books)

Book cover: 'Ready for Reading! A Learn-to-Read Series, Set 1'
Author(s): 
Laura Callahan Busch

This beginning reader set provides young students with small activity booklet/readers that can be read at a very primary level. The author combines simple words that can be read phonetically with one or two sight words in each booklet that the child will learn to recognize (words like: "look", "go" and "the"). I thought the illustrations were more appealing than those found in the Bob Books.

Little Stories for Little Folks

Book cover: 'Little Stories for Little Folks: Catholic Phonics Readers'
Author(s): 
Nancy Nicholson
Little Stories for Little Folks is a Catholic phonics readers set that offers an inexpensive alternative to the Bob Books. The entire Bob Books set (5 sets of booklets retailing for approximately $15 each) costs about $75 retail. In contrast, Little Stories for Little Folks costs about $25 for the whole program.

Catholic Children's Treasure Box

Book cover: Catholic Children's Treasure Box #1
Author(s): 
Maryknoll Sisters
Fr. Richard Ginder (Editor)
Illustrator(s): 
Miki

This set of colorful books for ages 3-8 are reprints of a Catholic magazine from the 1950s. They are filled with stories, games, picture puzzles, poems, crafts, etc. The pictures are beautiful and I like the very simple moral lessons many of the stories teach. (For example, when my daughter was three, she was very impressed by a story called "Peter the Picky Eater".

Pamela Walks the Dog

Author(s): 
Christine Marlin
Illustrator(s): 
Hilda van Stockum
This latest title in the Bethlehem Books Lamb Time series is a short but sweet (and very funny) story about a busy little girl going through the very important and imaginative process of getting ready to walk the dog. Any parent with small children will appreciate the humorous truth about how children are that the author so clearly understands, even in such a simple story. This shouldn't surprise fans of the author's grandmother and the book's illustrator, Hilda Van Stockum, whose own books portray a beautiful understanding of small children.

Grandpa Karm's First Catholic Australian Reader

Book cover: 'Grandpa Karm's First Catholic Australian Reader'
Author(s): 
Karmenu Attard
"Grandpa Karm" has written a 20-page first level reader, illustrated with black and white clip art and holy card reproductions. The typeface is large and clear and easy for a new reader to follow. Self-published and bound with staples and binding tape, the book may not hold up well to repeated readings by boisterous young readers.

The story describes farm life in Australia, and the children have a kangaroo and a possum for pets. At the end of the story, the children learn the most simple truths of the Catholic faith.

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