Books represent the heart and soul of reading. Unless
they have been beset by failure, young children have no
deeper yearning than being able to read books on their
own.
Many reading systems try to capitalize on this motivation
by offering children interesting books even at the very
start of reading. The idea is that reading "naturally" happens
once children have access to good books.
Unfortunately, motivation is not the whole story. "Good
books" tell a good story. To do that, they need to
use a fair number of complex words, ideas, and sentences.
It is wonderful to read those stories to children. It
is NOT wonderful to have children read those stories on
their own. They are too long and too complex, causing the
novice reader to experience high rates of error, and nothing
is more devastating to learning than high rates of error.
Any parent whose child struggles with the printed page
will tell you the real story. With repeated failure, motivation
is transformed into tension, and misery. Children will
love reading only if they can read the messages on the
printed page easily and effortlessly.
The 30 books of the Phonics Plus Five™ system have
been scientifically designed, based on 40 years of work,
to provide motivation while simultaneously providing the
structure and control children need for effective learning.
