Starfall Learn to Read 15 Phonics Books Paperback – December 1, 2014

These were the best learn to read books I've found. I have purchased several sets and these ones are far better than the rest. My son was actually able to read them with little assistance from me. It gives him great confidence and he enjoys the characters and the stories. I really thought Smurfs, Star Wars, Barbie, Disney Princess, and Alvin would be more interesting for the kids but when I tell them to pick one out to read they grab "Zac books". Now my daughter is beginning to read and loves these books! I think she might have the first one memorized but she wants to read and loves these! I don't know why exactly these worked so well with my kids but I am so very thankful I just happened to order theses.Couldn't find on amazon currently-kinda bummed, I think because Starfall gave rights to the foundation so I saw them on Starfalls website for $15.95. Worth every penny to me! These are on the top of my gift list for preschool age kids now!There's an interactive website that goes along with the books. What I found interesting was that the website is free and they get everything but the Ap only gives them a few and you have to pay. I didn't actually use the website or Ap until this week with my daughter (K). My son (1st) loved the website this week too. If I had incorporated the website I am sure that it would have increased the speed of his learning even more but he's doing fantastic with reading this year, so I'm not worried.

I have been searching for a very long time for books that are phonetically based. There are a lot of "early readers " that, despite the fact that there are very few words on the page, are still far too difficult for beginning readers. I love the Starfall app and so I was very excited to get these. I am so happy with these book. I purchased them for my beginning reader.I was looking for books that slowly developed a skill with a particular sounds and then added additional sounds in each book. That is exactly what these books do. The first book is short a, then short e etc. The stories are very simple but the pictures are colorful and cute.The back of each book lists vocabulary words as well as sound group for each book.I couldn't be happier. As a mom and as a speech therapist I am so happy that there are finally books that are educationally based as opposed to the popular books that I won't name. I wish they had a case to hold them but, that doesn't take away from the quality of these books

We became familiar with these books on starfall.com and got them after we finished the first two sets of Bob books. It is nice to have these books in a different format as it is great practice to read familiar books on mom or dad's lap rather than only in the computer or the tablet. Repetition is very important when teaching small children and this set, together with their website provides that.At first I was a little frustrated that there are sight words on the books and these did not match our official phonics curriculum. (Not matching our curriculum is not the fault of the books, of course) However, I've learned to either tell my son it is a sight word and help him read it or tell him the rules used to read the word and move on. I saw similar advice in the book "The Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.As far as quality: The books are sturdy, the pages are a good quality material and the colors are bright. It comes in a cute box that the kids can take and move around while playing school or wherever they are allowed to take them.

I just got these books for my 4 year old, who knows all his letters and most of the sounds, and understands the concept that letters can be sounded out to make words. He was extremely excited, and sat right down and read the first two books (with lots of assistance)! These books are great in their careful progression, and my son loved the pictures. The stories are really short but for a young child who is excited about reading this won't bother them -- they're just so happy to complete a book (I could see a 6 year old finding these kind of boring).Having read the first two books, however, my son isn't ready to move on to the next two -- he needs to practice those initial sounds like 20 more times. I don't think I'll be able to convince him to read the same books over and over, however. I wish Starfall would put out like 5 more collections just like this one -- same sounds worked on in each book, just different stories (Raz the Cat instead of Zac the Rat). As it is, I think I will intermingle these with other early phonics books to give him more practice.

These books are really cute, short and sweet. The pictures really draw in the child. The animal characters are doing various things that most small children love to do (cooking in the kitchen, racing cars, making messes, playing at the beach, enjoying family, etc.). My son (who just turned 5) LOVES them.When we first sat down to read them, I thought they were cute and really focused on letter sounds AND kept the attention of my son. But what REALLY sold me and made me (and my son fall in love with them) was the STARFALL.com website. ALL of the books are ONLINE with animation and sound. The child can even modify the story. It is too cute! My son has his own laptop and loves to go to the website and READ and LISTEN to the books, where they focus on sounding out the words. In addition to the books, there are a million other FUN learning activities ... calendar, writing a letter. It's an absolutely fabulous FUN learning website, all for free! This website has helped with learning and reinforcing what he has already learned in school.So, if you want to see (and read) the books BEFORE you buy, they are all on STARFALL.com.