Emergent Readers for older kids

[Mama Lynx]

Are there *any* books out there that are written at about a 2nd grade level, but that are not babyish?

 

I'm working with a 4th grade delayed reader. She disliked the Magic Tree House books because they were babyish. The readers I am using in her reading program are also babyish.

 

Ideas?

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I had a similar problem with my youngest son. I finally let him pick the books to read. He chose books that were beyond his abiltiy, but I said "ok". I would sit right beside him, let him read, and tell him the words he did not know. Sometimes I would read aloud one page and he would read aloud the next page. Sometimes I'd make a list of the words I "told" him and after the reading we'd sound them out and look at the phonics of the words. We continued phonics, but used sight reading methods when reading out loud.

 

Now he is 6th grade. I needed something for him to read this week and pulled out a 7th grade literature text. I sat beside him while he read outloud to me about 10 minutes. There were a few words he didn't know, but mostly he could read the book! He feels great about reading this week. Once he was "behind" and now he is "ahead".

 

BTW, he was in 4th when we discovered an eyesight problem was behind his delayed reading. He started doing MUCH better the very day we got glasses!

 

And, my 17yog still loves the Magic Tree House books! LOL

[elegantlion]

We used some of the Landmark Biographies for ds. Some are at 4th grade level and above, others are 2nd grade and above.

 

I can't remember exactly, but I believe we used ones on Lincoln, Columbus, and & MLK, Jr. at the 2nd grade level.

 

I had the same issue because ds' comprehension was much higher than his reading level. We made it through about 3 Magic Tree House books before he was bored.

 

Some of the other books we used were:

 

A to Z mysteries (formulaic but a step up from MTH)

Step into Reading type books (we ended up with every Star Wars book above a level two. At least he was reading on his own and learning the way of the Jedi at the same time :D.)

Absolutely Lucy (cute book)

Henry & Mudge series

Mr. Putter & Tabby series

 

HTH

[Chris in VA]

Evan-Moor has some readers for kids that have a hi-lo designation--high interest, lower level. Check out their site.

They are readers, so not necessarily living books, iykwim.

[Momling]

You can do a google search for "High interest low readability" or "Hi Lo" books. Depending on her level, abridged / simplified classics (like 'Classic Starts') might be an option... or graphic novels... Also Steck-Vaughn publishers has a lot of materials for older kids with low reading abilities and I've used those successfully in the past.

 

I've also used Penguin ESL readers and adult education literacy materials for older kids who are reading at low levels. You might also try EPS S.P.I.R.E for some graded readers, though I haven't seen them myself.

[Lori D.]

Hope something here will connect for you! Warm regards, Lori D.

 

Books with lots of visuals (highly illustrated, with captions):

- Calvin & Hobbes comic collections (this is what kept our struggling reader trying to read!!)

- "comic strip" style versions of classics by Marcia Williams (our boys loved these)

- Star Wars "exploded view" books on all the vehicles or characters (another huge favorite here)

- Usborne World History book (highly illustrated with short text/captions)

- Eyewitness series

 

 

Longer "Stepped" Readers:

- Tut's Mummy: Lost and Found (Donnelly)

- Secrets of the Mummies (Griffey)

- The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War (Little)

- The Trojan Horse: The World's Greatest Adventure (Davies)

- Days of the Knights: A Tale of Castles and Battles (Maynard)

- Pirates: Raiders of the High Seas (Maynard)

- Fly on the Ceiling (Glass)

- Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares (Murphy/Walz)

- Pompeii... Buried Alive! (Davis)

- Ice Mummy: Discovery of a 3,000 year old Man (Dubowski)

- The Titanic: Lost and Found (Donnelly)

- To The Top! Climbing the World's Highest Mountain (Kramer)

- Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express (Coerr)

- Bronco Charlie and the Pony Express (Brill)

- The Great Houdini: World Famous Magician & Escape Artist (Kulling)

- Civil War Sub: Mystery of the Hunley (Jerome)

- USS Monitor: Iron Warship That Changed the World (Thompson)

- Sea of Ice: The Wreck of the Endurance (Kulling)

- Wagon Wheels ( Brenner)

- Dinosaur Hunter (Alphin)

- Man O'War (Mckerly)

- Horse Named Seabiscuit (Duvowski)

- First Flight: The Story of Tom Tate and the Wright Brothers (Shea)

- Race Into Space (Arnold)

- Moonwalk (Donnelly)

- Greg's Microscope (Selsam)

- Volcanoes! (Arnold)

- Choppers! (Goodman)

- Submarines (Kramer)

- Hungry Plants (Batten)

- Buddy: The First Seeing Eye Dog (Moore)

- The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto (Standiford)

- Jumbo: The Most Famous Elephant in the World (Worth)

- Antarctic Adventure: Exploring the Frozen Continent (Martin)

- Spies! (Pratt)

- Disasters at Sea (Martin)

- The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft (Moore)

- Escape North! Story of Harriet Tubman (Kulling)

- Robert Smalls Sails to Freedom (Brown)

- Great Black Heroes: Five Brilliant Scientists (Jones/Garnet)

- Great Black Heroes: Five Brave Explorers (Hudson/Garnet)

- Great Black Heroes: Five Famous Writers (Jones/Garnet)

- Great Black Heroes: Five Bold Freedom Fighters (Hudson/Garnet)

- Great Black Heroes: Five Notable Inventors (Hudson/Garnet)

 

 

Gentle Chapter Books:

- The Great Illustrated Classics series

- Thornton Burgess nature series

- The Littles series (Peterson)

- Magic Tree House series (Osborn)

- Jigsaw Jones series (Prellar)

- Billy and Blaze series (Anderson)

- In Grandma's Attic series (Richardson)

- Moongobble and Me series (Coville)

- Dragonslayer Academy series (McMullan)

- The Minstrel in the Tower (Skurzynski)

- The Sword in the Tree (Bulla)

- Viking Adventure (Bulla)

- Riding the Pony Express (Bulla)

- A Lion to Guard Us (Bulla)

- The Secret Valley (Bulla)

- The Wright Brothers (Reynolds)

- Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky

- The Wizard of Menlo Park (Davidson)

- The Story of Thomas Alva Edison (Davidson)

- Helen Keller (Davidson)

- Louis Braille (Davidson)

- Five True Dog Stories (Davidson)

- Nine True Dolphin Stories (Davidson)

- Five True Horse Stories (Davidson)

- Seven True Horse Stories (Davidson)

- Dolphin Adventure (Grover)

- Dolphin Treasure (Grover)

- Light at Tern Rock (Sauer)

- A Single Grain of Rice (Pittman)

- The Little Riders (Shemin)

- Tales of Robin Hood (Claybourne)

- McBroom's Wonderful One Acre Farm (Fleischman)

- Marco Polo (Graves)

- The Robinson Crusoe Reader (Cowles)

[crl]

Have you looked at the book list HOD has for their emergent readers?

http://heartofdakota.com/emerging-reader.php

 

There might be a few on that list which your older child might still enjoy.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

McGuffey and Parker's Reader's are great old time books that are not babyish IMHO:)

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/webstersway.html

 

http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/valuable_reading_programs_f.html

[Mom-ninja.]

Look for non-fiction. Barnes and Noble Top Readers are non-fiction and not babyish. DS loves them. He just turned 9 and reads at 2nd grade level. Also, Usborne has some great leveled readers that aren't too babyish. Again, think mostly non-fiction.