Reading Rockets offers a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in working with struggling readers who require additional help in reading fundamentals and comprehension skills development.
2004 Holiday Buying Guide
Recommended Books for 6-7 Year Olds
Scroll down to see eight great books for beginner readers in first and second grades. The books are highly engaging and give kids a chance to succeed at reading. You'll also find nine additional recommended books that lend themselves to talking over, reading aloud, and enjoying with a parent, babysitter, or other caring adult
Books to read on their own
"That'll do pig." Rich language and lots of farm detail are in this saga of Babe, a unique and truly heroic pig, who works successfully as a sheep dog. You may recognize him from the Oscar-winning movie.
Even though she has allergies, Emma wants a pet for her birthday. Not only does Emma find an acceptable and intriguing pet, she convinces her parents that her younger brother Max needs one, too.
Robert survives all of the minor disasters that befall him in school, including a class bully and making mistakes in front of everyone. Readers will cheer Robert's successes and laugh along with him in this celebration of everyday life.
When in doubt, turn to the story of the cat that transformed a dull, rainy afternoon into a magical and just-messy-enough adventure. There's another hidden adventure inside, too: this book really does help children learn to read.
Though Wanda says she has a hundred dresses at home, her classmates tease her because she wears the same worn dress everyday. Only one girl feels badly when Wanda no longer attends school, and she tries to make amends. This girl learns what Wanda already knows — that words really hurt.
While they wait to go back into the water, Lolly, Sam, and Spider pass the time by telling stories to each other. One story is so vividly told, the monster seems to come alive! The deadpan language is very humorous, and is complemented by simple line-and-wash illustrations.
Children may feel more confident as readers if they read stories aloud to their pets – though with or without a pair of floppy ears listening, these short tales celebrate what makes dogs unique: barking, loving a good bone, and digging holes. Comic illustrations enhance the humor and link the three readable tales.
Rhyming tales written for two voices makes an ideal — and humorous — introduction to readers' theater. Well known fairy tales have been adapted, reorganized and reinvigorated with lively language and sprightly illustrations, worthy of many dramatizations.
Books to read with you
The real and truly amazing size of animals from the sea and land are shown in a way that children can understand and appreciate. Textured collage illustrations are used to show the actual size of a gorilla's hand, a giant squid’s eye and much more. Additional information on each animal is included in an afterword.
A grandmother tells her granddaughter the history of baskets, going all the way back to Africa. The circular history of a people and of families is suggested in gentle text and evocative watercolors.
As a child doodles and draws, she plays with lively language and creates all that she's illustrated. Which comes first, the doodles or the words? Well, it's a tantalizing tangle to untwist tongues and identify illustrations.
The essence of animals is evoked in rich language and the short form of haiku poems in this engaging book. Coupled with breathtaking and well composed illustrations, the poems are dramatically placed on double page spreads.
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come and live in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope she will stay. Patricia MacLachlan continues this Newbery Medal-winning story in two subsequent novels, Skylark and Caleb’s Story.
As advertisements go up announcing the arrival of the circus, children imagine the different acts on the sidewalks of their town. It's a nearly wordless but richly imagined adventure.
This biography tells the true story of a Vermont farm boy who was mesmerized by snowflakes. Wilson Bentley saw snowflakes as small miracles, and he became determined to one day use his camera to capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystal.
Once upon a time three pigs built three houses, out of straw, sticks, and bricks. Along came a wolf, who huffed and puffed... So, you think you know the rest? Think again. With David Wiesner at the helm, it's never safe to assume too much. When the wolf approaches the first house, for example, and blows it in, he somehow manages to blow the pig right out of the story frame, and the perplexed expression on the wolf's face as he looks in vain for his ham dinner is priceless. One by one, the pigs exit the fairy tale's border and set off on an adventure of their own.
Marian Anderson was an extraordinary contralto whose talent was celebrated in Europe long before she was recognized in her native United States. Anderson's focus, musical talent, and the difficult times in which she lived are captured in a dramatic picture book biography.
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