Dr. Seuss easiest to hardest - wdyt?

[~Victoria~]

Do you agree with this list? 

 

http://pridelearningcenter.com/2013/07/31/reading-with-dr-seuss-from-easiest-to-hardest/

[Gil]

I'm kind of surprised that The Cat in the Hat is considered 2nd grade....I guess because it is so long but it still seems like a 1st grade book to me.

 

[Crimson Wife]

Well, I don't think any of Dr. Seuss' stuff is 3rd grade level. 3rd grade to me are books like "Sarah, Plain and Tall". 2nd grade to me are books like Magic Treehouse.

 

I would say that most of Dr. Seuss is 1st grade, but the easier ones are kindergarten.

[Acorn]

First impression:

 

Some of those books are not by Dr. Seuss.

 

[~Victoria~]

I know they added theo lesieg books. My son just read I Wish that I had Duck Feet and it was listed on middle second grade level. He is 5 and a good reader, but I wouldn't peg him as 2nd grade. It is a long book, so maybe that is part of it.

[Acorn]

I see a difference in oral and silent reading levels.  Some of the tongue twisters are hard for me.  My kids could read pages from Cat in Hat and Red Fish, Blue Fish at PreK and K grades, but I don't know that they ever read the entire book aloud at those ages.

[Melissa B]

I didn't see one of my favorites anywhere on the list - My Many Colored Days.  :)

 

 

 

[Wheres Toto]

Wacky Wednesday has a lot of puns that wouldn't be understood without a good grasp of homonyms, which seems like it would put it at a higher level.

 

We read a lot of Dr. Seuss type books and it was really hard to find good ones for earlier readers.  They often had a few pages that were very simple but some of them would rev up fast, be very long, or have some very unusual words.

 

Fox in Socks starts off very simple and gets harder but I don't remember it getting that hard to be 2nd grade level.

Dr. Seuss's ABC - 2nd grade seems pretty high.

 

Going strictly by how many of the words in the book a beginner reader would be able to sound out, I think the list is a bit off.

[~Victoria~]

http://handsonhomeschooler.com/2012/02/dr-suess-books-listed-by-reading-levels.html

This may be a little better.

[kiwik]

I would believe those were the ages they were written for. They were written for children taught only sight words so they couldn't work out unknown stuff. If the words in the book weren't taught until second grade ... I agree the foot book is great for beginner readers and that the lorax is a lot more complicated. I would say the lorax is easily as hard as magic treehouse etc probably harder. My son could read magic treehouse and magic school bus chapter books at 5 but he would have found reading the lorax aloud hard.

[poiema]

I know they added theo lesieg books. My son just read I Wish that I had Duck Feet and it was listed on middle second grade level. He is 5 and a good reader, but I wouldn't peg him as 2nd grade. It is a long book, so maybe that is part of it.

Theo LeSieg is one of his pen names. LeSieg is Geisel backwards.

[shawthorne44]

Go, Dog, Go should be in the easiest level.  

How is the ABC book in the second grade?  

I have a love hate relationship with Dr. Seuss.  

[kitten18]

Go, Dog, Go should be in the easiest level.

How is the ABC book in the second grade?

I have a love hate relationship with Dr. Seuss.

I agree about the love/hate.

 

I feel nostalgic about them and I like the rhyming sing-song style for read alouds.

But, I don't teach sight words at all so they were worthless to me as early readers.

[LatteMama]

I think length is the biggest factor in this list. Today my two girls read One Fish, Two Fish to their brother. The 2nd grader had no problem. The K'er lost all interest around the hook cook book. I didn't know Babar or Bernstein Bears were Dr. Seuss....

 

They weren't written by Dr. Seuss.  But they have a Dr. Seuss beginner book picture thing on the cover, maybe because they are both published by Random House.

[kiwik]

And they were written about the same time for the same purpose. I love the imagery in the lorax such his teeth sounding grey and i line the foot book and old hat new hat, the bike lesson and wheels the rest i can take or leave.

[MistyMountain]

I think the list is slightly off but not too off. I found the scholastic book wizard to be a good source when dd was still working through reading levels as a way to see what she if a book was something she capable of reading. The list was usually a little off on the grade levels from the few I looked up. I guess they are taking things like length in account but once my ds starts reading books I would like one literally arranged by reading level because it was helpful when dd went through that stage even if the book length is too long. I rather know the actual reading levels not someones opinion on what grade they are good for but I am sure it is helpful for some people.

[MistyMountain]

Theo LeSieg is one of his pen names. LeSieg is Geisel backwards.

Doh! I didn't realize that either! Those books did sound like his style of writing. I should have realized it was him.

[Guest]

Hop on Pop is the best first book EVER! The child reads the big words in capitals and the parent reads the regular text, i.,e.

 

Child: ALL BALL

 

Parent: We all play ball.

 

The child slowly reads more and more of the parent's part until s/he finally puzzles out rather than recites "Constantinople and Timbuktu" and remembers that moment for a lifetime. :D

 

Next comes One Fish, Two Fish and then the Cat in the Hat books.

 

The Lorax, the Grinch, the Horton books, and especially The Butter Battle Book are read-alouds and probably too controversial and personal to be appropriate for reading to other people's children.

[Farrar]

That list was nonsense to me.  Surely Hop on Pop is the easiest Seuss (or LeSieg).  And Ten Apples Up on Top is probably next.  I think the books they chose were clearly based on sight words, not phonics.  Something like He Bear, She Bear (not Seuss, as was pointed out) is easier if you've had a sight word approach.  And the idea that some of those books are second grade seemed silly to me too.  I guess I think some of Seuss's longer books - Yertle, Sneeches, Butter Battle, Lorax, etc. - are probably 2nd grade books for most kids...  but I suspect that, unlike the small form books, they're read aloud more than independently read, making it a bit of a moot point.

 

So, basically, no.

[chelsmm]

I definitely don't agree with the list, however, thanks for posting it.  I downloaded from our library two of the beginner Berenstain bear books, and ds read them this morning.  He was able to read both (Inside, Outside, Upside down and Bears in the Night), and he was excited to use the ipad for reading.