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kukushka's review against another edition
4.0
Now that my child is just on the cusp of reading on his own, I'm struggling to find him enough ability-appropriate materials (he seems to be growing into quite the avid reader, not sure where he gets that from...).
So far, we've mostly been going through the BOB books, supplemented with a few emergent readers from the library. I found a LEGO Star Wars chapter books at the toy store, and I got really excited! My kid loves LEGO and he loves Star Wars, so what could be better? The book was a little too overwhelming for him right now, but I don't think it will be long, so I bought it and then took to Amazon to see if any more were published (spoilers: there are quite a few!).
While searching, I came across this Phonics box set and immediately purchased it.
The text is actually a mix of early phonics and more complex words, so it's ideal for parents reading along with their children. The books make this extra easy by bolding the words for the child to read. As with most phonics books, each book overs a different vowel sound.
The stories themselves are a little silly. They aren't exactly high literature, but they are definitely a relief after a few weeks of BOB books (don't get me wrong, I love the BOB books, but there's only so much I want to hear about the things Mat has been sitting on).
The artwork isn't great. It's colourful, but it looks a little rushed - proportions are often off, for example. But it is colourful and it is easy to tell who the characters are and, frankly, my kid didn't notice anything amiss.
The set includes two workbooks. The materials in the workbooks are fine, but they are so small! They lack guidelines, and the spaces provided for kids to write in their answers are far too small. Emergent readers tend to be very young, and they lack fine motor skills. The format of the workbooks would be more appropriate for a grade 2-3 child, while the content is more suited for K-grade 1. Rather than frustrate my kid, we decided to just go through the workbooks verbally.
Overall, I think the box set is well worth it's price. It could have been done a little better, but it's a lot of fun and I appreciate more materials in my child's fandoms being available. My kid already loves reading, but giving him characters that he's already invested in just makes the experience even better.
So far, we've mostly been going through the BOB books, supplemented with a few emergent readers from the library. I found a LEGO Star Wars chapter books at the toy store, and I got really excited! My kid loves LEGO and he loves Star Wars, so what could be better? The book was a little too overwhelming for him right now, but I don't think it will be long, so I bought it and then took to Amazon to see if any more were published (spoilers: there are quite a few!).
While searching, I came across this Phonics box set and immediately purchased it.
The text is actually a mix of early phonics and more complex words, so it's ideal for parents reading along with their children. The books make this extra easy by bolding the words for the child to read. As with most phonics books, each book overs a different vowel sound.
The stories themselves are a little silly. They aren't exactly high literature, but they are definitely a relief after a few weeks of BOB books (don't get me wrong, I love the BOB books, but there's only so much I want to hear about the things Mat has been sitting on).
The artwork isn't great. It's colourful, but it looks a little rushed - proportions are often off, for example. But it is colourful and it is easy to tell who the characters are and, frankly, my kid didn't notice anything amiss.
The set includes two workbooks. The materials in the workbooks are fine, but they are so small! They lack guidelines, and the spaces provided for kids to write in their answers are far too small. Emergent readers tend to be very young, and they lack fine motor skills. The format of the workbooks would be more appropriate for a grade 2-3 child, while the content is more suited for K-grade 1. Rather than frustrate my kid, we decided to just go through the workbooks verbally.
Overall, I think the box set is well worth it's price. It could have been done a little better, but it's a lot of fun and I appreciate more materials in my child's fandoms being available. My kid already loves reading, but giving him characters that he's already invested in just makes the experience even better.
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