These are great books for beginning readers. My 4 year old loves them because she can read them all by herself. All the words are three letters (or less) long which makes them very easy for kids to read. The stories are also silly and entertaining.

I thought about buying these same books in a large format from Costco, but I like the small size. They are just right for a kid.

My son is 5 and getting very interested in reading. His school had these books and he talked about them a lot. Now we have them at home and he loves to read the first three books. It is building his confidence because it is absolutely age appropriate as it introduces the sounds of letters in the form of short words. Highly recommended.

I used the Bob Books to teach my daughter how to read at age two. Really. Being able to read helped to give her a feeling of confidence when she entered school. She knew she could tackle anything the teachers threw her way. This love of reading has stayed with her. Now I am buying the Bob Books for my nephews so they can get that early confidence. As a teacher and mother I recommend Bob Books.

I don't know that I can recommend these books enough! I bought them for my daughter's 3rd birthday because she was very interested in reading, was writing her name, asking how to spell words, etc... At first I was concerned that it was just too early to expect her to read & that it would do more harm than good - Nope! We read them to her first, then had her repeat as we read & before we knew it she was reading them on her own. Once she could easily read every book included in Set 1, she asked when the next set would arrive!
I'm extemely happy I stumbled across these on amazon & that I bought them for her when she was ready - not according to the age range listed. Don't be afrid to introduce these early - they are nice & simple enough to build confidence in their skill right away.
I absolutely recommend these. There is nothing more heartwarming then to watch a child light up because they did it all by themself!

My daughter is one of the youngest kids in her class heading to kindergarten next year and my wife purchased this set of books. We have read to my daughter since before she was born and now she is reading to us! She is so excited and extremely proud of her new found ability.

I was skeptical at first, but I couldn't rate it higher at this point!

The 3 letter words in these books introduce the beginning reader to the basic idea of "sounding out" words. I found that after my child understood that concept, she could read almost anything (within reason). She moved on quickly after reading each book in this set once or twice, but they are well worth it to get them started! Now my second (4.5 yrs old) child is getting started with them and is almost there! Thanks Bob Books!

If your child can sound out letters and wants to learn to read, the Bob books are your best start. The words are short and easy to read; the pictures are fun but don't give away the meaning of the words; and the books are short and satisfying to read for a child. I can't imagine a better feeling than to see the proud look on my four-year-old when he finishes a new page of the book. It's one of the "aha" moments of being a parent for me: THIS is why people have children! Thanks, Bob books.

My son plowed through the first three sets of Bob books in about a week, so stock up. He read two or three books a night, but as he hit sets four and five, he slowed down to one a night, since they get a little harder and longer. Other early reading series (Starfall and Sight Word Readers) get hard too fast; the Bob book series get more challenging only imperceptibly. Your child will hardly notice that the sentences have ten words instead of three, that the words have three syllables instead of one, and silent "e"s & "gh"s instead of all letters you pronounce. He was reading whole words at a time, not collections of letters.

A wholehearted commendation for the Bob books.

I bought this set for my 4 1/2 year-old daughter. I gave her the first book and was amazed when she sat down and read it from start to finish. That's all it took to give her the confidence to try to read and she's devouring these books. She's also sounding out building signs and road signs, book titles, everything she sees she's trying to sound out. I highly recommend these books. We'll be purchasing the second set soon.

I had heard about the Bob books for several years. And my four year old is just starting to read. We tried them. I thought they would be great! But, I also found two sets of Level 1 Readers from the Now I'm Reading series. They're the same size and length, but my daughter loves the Now I'm Reading Readers. In contrast to the Bob Books, which are black and white, the Now I'm Reading readers are colorful and humorous. Before you buy the bob books, check out the Now I'm Reading books.

What I love about these books is that they are short, so my 4 year old can read them completely and feel successful by finishing a book.

From the other reviews I see there are polarizing feelings about these books; too simple, too boring, wonderful, etc. Obviously you have to figure out what works for YOUR kids, there's more than one right way to learn how to read (just like there's more than one right way to parent). And, these books may not be good for your kid right now, but might be in three weeks.

We are on the first box, and I am not pushing the books but offering them. Usually my son will want to read two if I read two to him. He keeps wanting to read the first ones (which he's memorized...so he's no longer 'reading' them), so I ask him to read two that are new to him, then he can read one of his favorites.

Reading is a milestone for us -- really, it is for everyone, and I commend the authors for coming up a with a simple, straightforward concept that has helped my son build his confidence.

The Bob Books were a wonderful beginning to help my youngest son learn to read. I love the simplicity of the layout and how each vowel sound is focused on independently. Each book is small so the accomplishment of reading a book is huge! I highly recommend these for an early beginning reader.

I was worried, when my kindergartener wasn't "getting" the concept of letter sounds creating words. He could recognize his letters, and even knew the sounds they made, thanks to all things leapfrog, but putting it all together was a problem. There was nothing but frustration coming from him, and that made him "shut down". He wanted nothing to do with reading, at all. I was at a loss, because all of the things which worked with our oldest son, just didn't click with him.
Then came our Bob Books. I must say this--I didn't have high expectations. They seemed silly. BUT--They've worked for us! We do 1 or 2, sometimes 4 mini books a night, and it has all come together!
WE HAVE JUST BOUGHT OUR 3RD SET OF BOB BOOKS!!! THESE REALLY WORKED FOR US!!!
Confidence in my little boy was built, and he is now at or above grade level, in reading. God Bless the authors--they've helped a parent who didn't know how to help her child.

I agree - these are really great books to encourage young preschoolers to read. My five year old started working on them and then my three year old picked them up and started them too! As they are short books, however, I have a feeling my kids are just repeating what they've "memorized" rather than actually "reading" them. But still, I feel it's helpful as they sound out letters they already know. I had been using "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" and both my daughter and I hated it. But now we enjoy reading these Bob books and the cute stories.

Wow! My two- (alomost three-) year-old learned his letters at 18 months and recently I realized he knew all of the individual sounds. I thought I'd try these books. He loves them and can read the simple words with the picture clues. It is very exciting for him and he is really proud of himself. I left one star off because as an educator, I don't believe these books are magic or should be pushed on the beginning reader. Some kids learn best using phonics and some kids do not. Readers need a vast variety of reading materials. The Bob books can be a great part of a full reading program.

These books were recommended to me by my child's preschool teacher as a way to help reinforce her early learning. We were reading books together at home and I would encourage my daughter to read some of the words and sentences, but she became easily frustrated when she could not recognize or sound out the words correctly. These little books give her an opportunity to read a whole book without my help, which gives her a great sense of accomplishment, plus reinforces sight words and sound familys like -at, -ot, etc. I think the series will continue to provide positive reinforcement and hopefully help my child develop a love of reading.

My son and I enjoyed reading through the books. My son confidence has increased my son's confidence a lot in reading.. Thanks...

We became acquainted with the Bob series a few months ago when my (then) three year old daughter started bringing books home from her Montessori classroom. She immediately fell in love them and also fell in love with reading.

The author did a great job with the series by offering just the right amount of words on a page as well as with the length of the book; each book is about a dozen pages. The early books start out with 4 words per page with more words added per page as you progress through to Book 12. After the title page of each book is a list of new sounds or punctuation marks that are introduced in that story. The simple illustrations are cute and so full of expression that they naturally lead to discussions about what the characters might be thinking/feeling in the story.

Her favorite book in this series is "Dot and the Dog", but what she loves most is that she can pick any book out of the box and read it cover to cover all by herself. She's about halfway through Series 2 and always looks forward to getting her hands on the next book.

I had bought several "beginner" books for my daughter who is just learning to read and all of them seemed way too hard for a real beginner. Then a friend recommended this set of books and my daughter loves them!!! They're easy enough for her to read (with some work still) but it's very motivating her to continue learning unlike the other books which are too hard and she gets frustrated and gives up.

These are books that very early readers can really read all by themselves. It is a real confidence boost for children to feel like they can read independently. Each book presents a new sound concept like the short e sound and builds on concepts learned in previous books. Books are just the right length for the attention span of a 3-5 year old early reader.

I'm delighted! The negative reviews had me full of doubts, and I see what some are getting at, but in terms of making reading accessible and fun to start, these have already been effective and I've only had them 24 hours. My little one is enjoying "reading" them already, remembered what he learned yesterday, and was at least interested enough in them to puzzle out what he wasn't sure of.

Some reviewers have complained these are boring. I'm sure if you used them as a "text" for "reading lessons," or for anyone over, say, three or four, they'd bore everyone to tears. As a fun way to get your child easily and almost unwittingly to look at the words s/he's reading, these are great. Even if my child never looked at them again, in one day I've gotten my money's worth. And I'm sure he'll enjoy them over and over as part of learning to read.

FWIW our house is filled to the brim with books for all ages, on all topics, and every member of the household is constantly reading. These books, "boring" or not, will serve their purpose well. Children love simple repetition, and it is an essential part of the learning process- if it's dull, there's something lacking in the presentation, not the material! We are reading "Mat sat on Sam" with great joy!

These books are great for parents trying to figure out how to teach your child to read. Instruction for the parents are also included with these books. The books build confidence in your child so that they want to progress in the series.

These came recommended by homeschooling parents. They are also at our childs Montessori school. Our child was able to read the red/first 4 books almost immediately and was so excited and stating "I can read by myself!". They are numbered and color coded and purposely put very boring type of drawings in so the kids will stay focused on the words and not the drawings. Our child loves these books. They are small enough to take with you in your purse and practice reading wherever you are.

I highly recommend this series to parents of new readers. Our initial attempts to practice reading were very frustrating (for both parent and child). This was due to the fact that the material that we were reading was inconsistent from a reading level perspective. The Bob Books helped us to pace ourselves so that the basics were covered without getting to far ahead. Review of basic "building block" reading concepts was well planned and easy to reinforce. I can't say enough good things about the series.

must buy for the beginner reader!
My son is 5 and NOW can read all of the Bob books. He really loves them and we don't have to "make" him read them. I highly recommend the entire Bob Book collection.

I bought this set of books after researching a bit on beginning reading books. Bob Books were highly recommended so I purchased them for my daughter who just turned three. She LOVES these books and within two weeks was able to read almost all twelve! We will be buying the second set for sure. I highly recommend for anyone who is looking for ways to introduce their young child to reading. The books do a great job of building upon each other and are short enough to keep her attention.

This is exactly what I was looking for - something simple and fun. My daughter was interested in reading but we could not find any books that were for real beginners. This is it. They are short, fun, and very cute. My daughter gets excited to read. Can't wait to get the next set.

Both of my children have started reading with Bob Books. I had real concerns whether or not my son, now 5, would be interested in reading. But the first few books are so easy it really draws them in.

Several reviewers have mentioned 'poor artwork' but I immediately thought the scant artwork was to give more attention to the words. So many kids can look at the pictures in the book and figure out the text. It seems to me the authors have taken this into consideration and have created minimal artwork so the children focus on the words. It works well.

I've found that after level A, and level B that kids really have a strong base and can pick up many beginning reading books and truly read them.

Ok, yes the artwork is poor and the stories are so simple I'm not even sure they classify as stories but they are the easiest beginning readers. There are no words in them that your child won't be able to read if they are truly ready to read (they know the consonant and short vowel sounds). They are short, simple and satisfying to a young emergent reader. These books are not meant to be literary works of art and should not replace reading time. I do not read these books to my son. He reads one a day and that's it! And then together we read many other much more exciting books. Point is, he's reading, enjoying it, and will soon be ready for the more interesting readers that have many more words in them. Start with Bob and 12 days later (there are 12 readers in each set) you'll have a very proud reader :)

I am in a family of artists. These books are terrible. I don't know why I expected them to be more interesting because Amazon shows what they look like, but they are line drawings with basic words. I read my children poetry with beautiful prints or we sing and follow along or we draw to go along with poetry. I showed the first book to my two year old and she started crying.

Back to the coffee table drawing books!

I recently purchased Bob Books Set 1, my daughter loves them. She is already on the third book. She loves being able to read the books on her own. She can't wait until we sit down to read another one. I would recommend this product for anyone whose child is ready to learn how to read.

I was excited to get these books for my son. But they're marginal. My main problem with them is that everything is handprinted, and poorly. The words run together - the spaces between words are often the same as the spaces between letters in words. So it's hard to distinguish separate words. Not good for beginning readers.

I love these books. My daughter is progressing wonderfully. I will definitely buy the next set soon.

These books are fantastic ! My three year old grand-daughter called me and read an entire book to me - two days after she had received it in the mail from me. She was so proud " to read a whole book" - she has learned to sound out the words - the site recognition - the self confidence to finish it - and is so excited to go on to the next book. She wasn't even sure of the entire alphabet before - and two days later, she is excited to read! I am so happy to have found this series.

We just got the books and already my son,
who is 3, loves taking them out of the box, and holding them and identifying the
letters - so far so good! All of this is part of pre-reading -

With numerous early reader tools available today the Bob Books series truly starts at the beginning. Arriving in a sturdy, compact, brightly colored blue box are twelve books, perfect for little hands just learning the art of holding a book and turning pages independently. Each book is comprised of 12 pages, containing three letter words. Because young readers are easily distracted by glossy, high color images, utilizing simple, black and white drawings help children remain focused on the words first and the pictures second. The gradual addition of new sounds, improves and expands the vocabulary of very young readers. Thus instilling confidence and nuturing the natural desire to learn new things.

It's important to remember that every child is different - parents have to decide (independently) what is best for his or her child and at what stage you feel it is appropriate to introduce educational/learning tools. Keeping in mind that it's never too soon to start fostering an education based environment, you know your child better than anyone, if these books are too simple for your child, move on to a more advanced set or something different all together. The whole purpose behind Bob Book's is to start with the absolute basic first step.

I recommend Bob Books to all parents, care givers and teachers... it would be wonderful to see these colorful little boxes on shelves everywhere. The best way to encourage a new generation of readers is to start early! I will share Bob Books with my grandkids...someday!

Happy Reading!
RJ

My daughter wanted to be able to read on her own but was very addiment that I wouldn't be the one to teach her to read. So I bought these books for her and am helping her read them. She had the letter sounds down and the concept of letters make words and words make stories, so this was the next logical step. I was worried that she would not like the simple, basic pictures and stories, but she loves them. The ability to read these books on her own more than makes up for the simplicity of the books. She loves her Bob books and is starting the journey of being a life-long learner and reader. I am so pleased with these 12 simple books!

We have found that BOB Books are developmentally and age appropriate for our 4 year old daughter. Once she learned her letter sounds and I taught her how to decode simple three letter words, she was able to read the books. She is progressing very quickly now. The books are simple and fun to read. I recommended these books to my friend who also has a 4 year old daughter, and she too really likes these books for her daughter.

These books are my first choice for new readers. They don't have dynamic pictures so the children stay focused on the words and they keep to simple sounds and short vowels.

The entire series is wonderful! It was awesome to see my 5 year old boy read the entire first book all by himself! So far, it has also come up along side the reading program we're currently using, Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons, by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox, and Elaine Bruner. These really are a must have for homeschoolers, and even children who are having a difficult time learning to read in public schools. My mother-in-law is currently using them with my 12 year old sister-in-law who has down syndrome. The books rely heavily on phonics, and are in small bite-size pieces, so young children aren't overwhelmed. It reinforces word families and uses word rhyming to create familiarity with those word families.

What a fantastic set! My child loves the books. They are so cute and the progression logical. Highly recommend them.

I bought these a few weeks for my daughter who turns 3 tomorrow. She is already reading the first book entirely by herself. Initially I was disappointed. I thought the books were small and flimsy, until I gave them to her. It turns out they're just the right size for her little hands and the paperback style allows me to fold the book so she only sees the page she's reading. Better yet, they're easy to take places. These books haven't left her side, in the car, to the grocery store and even to bed. She's so proud of herself when she spells out a word and then tries to sound it out. The repative nature of the books allows her to sound out a word on the first page and then recognize it on all the following pages, buiding confidence and sight recognition. Each box contains 12 books with graduating difficulty. It will take a while to master all the books in this box so at the price, its an incredible value.

My son is 3 1/2 and just finished the first set of Bob Books and can't wait for more. This series is perfect for him because they stay at a beginner level for so long (silent "e" is finally introduced in the 5th set). I love that the set uses some words that might not be familiar to small children ("keg", "nip") as well as names of characters to encourage reading instead of guessing. As you would expect, there are some awkward sentences, but my son doesn't seem overly bothered by them. And the pictures aren't perfect, but they're cute enough that I can't keep my 18-month-old away from them. I'm very pleased that we chose this series.

I have to admit, when I first got the Bob Books for my son, I was very excited about them. I thought the gradual pace of vowel and consonant introduction would make reading easier and give a natural progression. My 4-year old son read the first 3 or 4 books in the series, we were both excited, and all was well. I was thinking 4 or 5 stars.

Then within a week, my son refused to read the books. I knew that he could - he was certainly capable - but anytime I mentioned them, he would whine, complain and tell me that he didn't want to. This from the boy who is a book nut and would have me read to him 24-7 if possible! He would sit with me so I could read other books to him, and even try to read them himself, but wanted nothing to do with the Bob Books. This went on for months with the same response.

It wasn't until I started doing a bunch of literacy reading and research for my job that I realized the probable reason why the Bob Books are gathering dust on our shelves when all of the other books are well loved. They are dull. They are boring and can hardly be qualified as stories. Does anyone really talk like that? "Mat sat. Cat sat. Mat and cat sat." No wonder he would rather I read him books like "The Complete Book of Farmyard Tales" by Heather Amery or "Frederick" by Leo Lionni or classic tales like "The Gingerbread Man" or "The Fox and the Crow."

In my research, I came across two books that I highly recommend to anyone who wants their child to learn to read. These are "The Read Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease and "Reading Magic" by Mem Fox. Trelease talks about the pleasure aspect of reading - humans want to do things that give them pleasure and shy away from things that don't, it's just human nature. When we make reading more of a chore for a child or give them boring books to read, we are taking away that aspect of pleasure that will make them want to read.

A national committee called the Commission on Reading (funded by the US Dept of Education) did a 2-year study of thousand of research projects related to reading. Their report had two primary findings. The first is that the single most important activity to build success in reading is to read aloud to your children. The second is to continue reading aloud to them throughout the grades. (Yep, that means through high school, not just until they can read themselves.)

So choose books and stories for your children that they will enjoy - and that you will enjoy! Build their library and read to them as often as you can - in the morning, before bed, while they are eating lunch, while they play in the tub, use books on CD in the car, etc. If you don't know where to start, "The Read Aloud Handbook" has a list of over 1000 suggested titles in various categories to read to children. My son was reading at just over 4 years old and, other than the Bob Books failure, all I ever did was read to him. And read and read.

This book was perfect for my daughter who is turning 5 years old at the end of the summer. The books starts at a very basic & simple level and then builds upon that. She loved the pictures, which she identified with because it looks like a child drew them and it gave her clues to the words she was reading. Also, the clues to sound out your letters at the start of the book helped her know what was coming up. The books are short and allowed her to have little successes along the way. Each time we read the "Bob" books, she would want to do at least 4 of them. Hint - read these books with your child regularly and help then discover how to sound out words. I highly recommend this to all for beginning readers.

These books are very good for beginning readers. They are phonics based. The books get progressively harder, but stay at a beginning level. As a first grade teacher I use them in August to review the short vowel sounds the children learned in Kindergarten. The only thing that could be improved are the illustrations.

My 4-year old & I LOVE these books. They introduce sounds very slowly, and while you're not exactly introducing your child to great literature, you are building their confidence -- they can quickly read the ENTIRE book on their own without asking an adult for a single word.

Some are put off by the "handwriting style" used in the book, but I rather like that the kids can relate these letters to those they would write themselves in kindergarten. They are going to need to recognize both handwriting & type, anyway, so it's certainly not a waste to introduce them to it now.

I'm using these books to help prepare my daughter for kindergarten, but I don't know that I'd use them - at least not this particular set - for someone who is already being taught to read in school. I chose them because they're the absolute simplest I've seen -- we haven't run into any blends, and I think Book 8 is the first we've seen with more than 3 letters in a word. I taught my older daughter to read with the easiest Dr. Seuss books, but she was over 4 1/2 when we started and better able to handle the length of those books.

I was shocked to hear my son read for the first time when he picked up these books and sounded out the simple words. It gives them confidence and a desire to read more!

I am a reading teacher who just bought the Bob Books for my homeschooled nephew, age 7, a beginning reader. He loves the fact that he can say "I can read this whole book!" He takes them home to read again and again by himself and with his mom. I create mini-lessons based on the vocabulary in each book. Unlike many early readers, they have a sense of humor.
This series is a good complement to any early reading program in a school or home-based program.

We bought this for our daughter (4) and she loves them. They are easy enough for her to read by herself with help. She asks to read her BOB books and build up her confidence! I would reccomend for any new reader!

My son is 3 and in the autism spectrum--so he memorizes...EVERYTHING. He doesn't use his brain to figure anything out: it's either pulled from memory, or he tunes out.

When he started memorizing the shapes of letters and the words they equate to (essentially sight-reading), I panicked. I understand the value in sight-reading, but for us it was another "domain" added to the vicious memorization issue. I felt like I needed to teach him phonetic reading--and fast.

Enter the "Bob books". HALLELUJAH! My son had known the sounds associated with letters for over a year. The Bob books were SO SIMPLE that he was able to master them quickly and shot through the first set so fast that I had to express order sets 2 and 3. Two months later, he read the word "restaurant" and "bakery" to me. He is regularly using his brain to figure out new words... it's WONDERFUL!

Two weeks ago, I became foster mom to a selective mute 8yo girl who was fooling people about her reading ability--partially because she didn't speak, so nobody could truly judge it. Well, she can't read. She has limited sight words if anything at all. I had to start her on book 1 of set 1 of the Bob books and she's just barely getting by--but the accomplishment has her on the edge of her seat looking for the next book. She's gaining confidence by the day as we work through them.

I love these books. I tell everyone I know about them! The progression is wonderful. The length of the books is perfect for beginning readers or struggling readers or children with attention problems--who need small steps and some sense of accomplishment to move forward. These books are worth every dime I paid for them.