Best beginner readers books for children according to redditors
We found 309 Reddit comments discussing the best beginner readers books for children. We ranked the 162 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
In a Dark, Dark Room by Alvin Schwartz.
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Other-Scary-Stories-Reading/dp/0064440907/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1335415715&sr=8-7
The words are actually "kite, kit, steal, playing, must".
This is part of the lesson plan for the story "The Pet Goat" in Reading Mastery - Level 2 Storybook 1, part of SRA's Reading Mastery series.
Here is the story in the book.
> Part One: The Pet Goat
> A girl got a pet goat. She liked to go running with her pet goat. She played with her goat in her house. She played with her goat in her yard.
> But the goat did some things that made the girl's dad mad. The goat ate things. He ate cans and he ate canes. He ate pans and he ate panes. He even ate capes and caps.
> One day her dad said, "that goat must go. He ate too many things." The girl said, "dad if you let the goat stay with us, I will see that he stops eating all those things."
> Her dad said he will try it.
> So the goat stayed and the girl made him stop eating cans and canes and caps and capes.
> But one day a car robber came to the girls house. He saw a big red car near the house and said, "I will steal that car."
> He ran to the car and started to open the door. The girl and the goat were playing in the back yard. They did not see the car robber.
> More to come.
> Part Two: The Goat Stops the Robber
> A girl had a pet goat. Her dad had a red car.
> A car robber was going to steal her dad’s car. The girl and her goat were playing in the back yard.
> Just then the goat stopped playing. He saw the robber. He bent his head down and started to run for the robber. The robber was bending over the seat of the car. The goat hit him with sharp horns. The car robber went flying.
> The girl’s Dad ran out of the house. He grabbed the robber. “you were trying to steal my car,” he yelled.
> The girl said, “but my goat stopped him.”
> “Yes,” her dad said, “that goat saved my car.”
> The car robber said, “something hit me when I was trying to steal that car.”
> The girl said, “my goat hit you.”
> The girl hugged the goat. Her Dad said, “that goat can stay with us. And he can eat all the cans and canes and caps and capes he wants.”
> The girl smiled. Her goat smiled. Her Dad smiled. But the car robber did not smile. He said, “I am sore.”
> The End.
> The Pet Goat, Siegfried Engelmann & Elaine C. Bruner, Lesson 60, page 153, Reading Mastery 2, Storybook #1, SRA (Scientific Research Associates), McGraw-Hill, 1995, ISBN# 0026863553
Source: the "ledge of liberty" blog:
Reminds me of one of my favorite books from my childhood. The Little House
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Rainbow Fish
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
No, David!
Are You My Mother?
The Berenstain Bears
Amelia Bedelia
Stellaluna
Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Max
Clifford
The Little Engine That Could
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Madeline
Corduroy
Arthur
Franklin
Edited: to add some more.
Congratulations! :D
Not quite the same, but I get The Paper Bag Princess for all my friends’ daughters. A princess rescues her prince from a dragon, but the prince turns out to be an ungrateful jerk so she leaves him and lives happily ever after.
Turns out there's two versions of this book. There's the full-length hardcover (like this) and a significantly abridged board book version (like this). We had the second one growing up, and I remember walking around in a Barnes & Noble when I was like 16 and having my mind blown when I picked it up for nostalgia's sake and found out there was a whole second half to the story.
No, but the "Jenny and Alfred" version is also by Alvin Shwartz, who wrote those. The book mentioned in the article above (and likely the one OP remembers) is this one.
Love Sesame Street.
One of my favorite kids' books, is Chicka chicka Boom boom
https://www.amazon.com/Chicka-Boom-Board-Book/dp/1442450703/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504836973&sr=1-1&keywords=chicka+chicka+boom+boom
Stop making it work. Do you read to him every night? If so, just start reading books like the one above that focus on letters and numbers. Your public library should be a great source.
He shouldn't necessarily know his alphabet yet. Is he in prescho
Could it be "A Promise is a Promise"?
Allashua parent's tell her not to go fishing in the sea because the Qallupilluit will reach through the cracks in the ice and pull her under. But she disobeys them and goes fishing in the sea anyway. Just like her parents warned, the Qallupilluit pulls her under, but Allashua promises to bring her brothers and sisters down to the sea if the Qallupilluit lets her go.
So the Qallupilluit releases Allashua, who runs home and tells her parents what happened while they warm her up (she was pulled under the ice after all). Her parents tell her to gather up her brothers and sister and take them down to the sea. While Allashua and her siblings go down to the sea, Allashua's parents invite the Qallupilluit into their home and distract them. In this way, Allashua can keep her promise to bring her siblings down to the sea without the fear of the Qallupilluit pulling them under the ice, so they all escape the grasp of the Qallupilluit.
The words are "kite, kit, steal, playing, must".
This is part of the lesson plan for the story "The Pet Goat" in Reading Mastery - Level 2 Storybook 1, part of SRA's Reading Mastery series.
Here is the story in the book.
> Part One: The Pet Goat
> A girl got a pet goat. She liked to go running with her pet goat. She played with her goat in her house. She played with her goat in her yard.
> But the goat did some things that made the girl's dad mad. The goat ate things. He ate cans and he ate canes. He ate pans and he ate panes. He even ate capes and caps.
> One day her dad said, "that goat must go. He ate too many things." The girl said, "dad if you let the goat stay with us, I will see that he stops eating all those things."
> Her dad said he will try it.
> So the goat stayed and the girl made him stop eating cans and canes and caps and capes.
> But one day a car robber came to the girls house. He saw a big red car near the house and said, "I will steal that car."
> He ran to the car and started to open the door. The girl and the goat were playing in the back yard. They did not see the car robber.
> More to come.
> Part Two: The Goat Stops the Robber
> A girl had a pet goat. Her dad had a red car.
> A car robber was going to steal her dad’s car. The girl and her goat were playing in the back yard.
> Just then the goat stopped playing. He saw the robber. He bent his head down and started to run for the robber. The robber was bending over the seat of the car. The goat hit him with sharp horns. The car robber went flying.
> The girl’s Dad ran out of the house. He grabbed the robber. “you were trying to steal my car,” he yelled.
> The girl said, “but my goat stopped him.”
> “Yes,” her dad said, “that goat saved my car.”
> The car robber said, “something hit me when I was trying to steal that car.”
> The girl said, “my goat hit you.”
> The girl hugged the goat. Her Dad said, “that goat can stay with us. And he can eat all the cans and canes and caps and capes he wants.”
> The girl smiled. Her goat smiled. Her Dad smiled. But the car robber did not smile. He said, “I am sore.”
> The End.
> The Pet Goat, Siegfried Engelmann & Elaine C. Bruner, Lesson 60, page 153, Reading Mastery 2, Storybook #1, SRA (Scientific Research Associates), McGraw-Hill, 1995, ISBN# 0026863553
Source: the "ledge of liberty" blog:
I would like to take a moment to recommend The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch if anyone is looking for a good children's book with a strong female character.
It's about a princess who decides to rescue the prince she's supposed to marry from a dragon when he gets kidnapped. However, the only thing she can find to wear is a paper bag. After the princess eventually outsmarts the dragon and rescues the prince, he's a complete jerk to her because of what she's wearing. So, she calls him an ungrateful bum and decides not to marry him after all.
The GOAT alphabet book is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
It's a little early for alphabet, but this is still my favorite book from being a toddler. I can recite the whole thing still.
With an easy Google search, I think I've found what you're looking for:
In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz
That story is in In a Dark, Dark Room.
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Other-Scary-Stories-Reading/dp/0064440907
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish is really funny, also Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald. Bailey School Kids series by Debbie Dadey is good and The Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne. Ramona Quimby by Beverly Cleary, Amber Brown by Paula Danziger, Marvin Redpost by Louis Sachar, Ivy & Bean by Annie Barrows, A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy, My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos by Vivian Vande Velde, The World According to Humphrey by Bettey Birney, Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park is a classic for this age, and anything by Roald Dahl is great for read alouds. My cousin really liked Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka.
Choose a well known or silly book in a foreign language and you've got the makings of an awesome game.
https://www.amazon.com/Oeufs-Verts-au-Jambon/dp/1569756880
Here we go!
BOB Books
The only thing I could find is:
A Promise is a Promise by Robert Munsch
http://www.amazon.com/A-Promise-Classic-Munsch/dp/1550370081/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341856658&sr=8-2&keywords=a+promise+is+a+promise
As a beginner, I only have one Latin book. But, Cattus Petasatus seems to be pretty spot on. Even down to the meter and rhymes. Sure it's a little more childish than some other books but you gotta start somewhere, and why not Dr Seuss?
I'm working with my son on this right now. My sister is a teacher and has helped me get started on this. There are two main schools of thought in terms of teaching reading, phonics and 'whole language'.
The current 'winner' seems to be phonics (Phonics is where you learn the general sounds each letter makes and you sound-out words.), with the addition of teaching 'sight words'. Sight words are a set of words that are most common in reading and that you should know by sight. "Fry's sight words" are a really good resource. The first 25 words make up 1/3 of all we read!
I'm assuming your brother knows all upper case and lower case letters? If not you should start there. My sister then said it is good to start with a little bit of multiple approaches, if that makes sense. You don't want to work on sight words only, for example. So, start with the first two sight words ("the" and "of). Write them clearly on a blank index card and tell him what words they are, and then as he starts to learn them, add in more ("and" is the next word, etc). Use these multiple times a day. When he first wakes up, before breakfast, when you're about to leave somewhere, during a snack, while in the car is another great spot, etc. They are so quick and repetition will help him learn them quickly. Knowing these key words by sight will be a big confidence booster when he's reading.
Request from your library "Leapfrog Letter Factory" which is an awesome introduction to phonics, and has a game at the end where you have to guess which letter makes the sound. My son loved this. Additionally, work on his name, say what sound the first letter makes, and dot-out each letter of his name and have him trace it. Note that the Leapfrog DVD introduces the most common sound each letter can make, but there are more than those out there, and there are a lot of rules.
After the basic phonics introduction, you can start showing him how to make the word "at", and how you can add a letter in front of it to make bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, etc.
After the basic introduction, look at things like Bob books from the library.
They key is to do this consistently, several times a day for short periods each time so they don't burn out.
And you're quite an awesome big brother for doing this! Learning to read is surprisingly complicated but if you break it down into small segments he'll start getting it. Good luck!
I don't have time to read into the article, but your title reminded me back to a book my mom would read my brother and i from time to time. When i was way younger, and it's stuck.
I want to say it was called the "Paper Bag Princess" or something. I'll look, but it's basically a princess who saves herself, wears a paper bag, i think she saves the knight, and he returns the hero or something...i forget how it ends. I forget how it ends, but my mom was real adamant on showing my brother and i that girls are just as good as boys.
She didn't have to read us a story, being 28 now i see how strong women can be. She raised my 2 brothers and i while working full time and going to college to get a nursing degree and helped put 2 of us through college with my youngest starting soon.
She showed me she was strong by her actions, not her words. :D
This game does LOOK awesome, i like the aesthetic so i'm excited to check it out later! :D
EDIT: Here it is!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Paper-Bag-Princess-Annikins/dp/0920236251
I remember those books! I think they were "The Jolly Postman", I adored them as well.
Is this it?
Cat in the hat in Latin
Edit:[found a bunch of translated children's books] (http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=28021)
I think that is actually from this book.
Was it Wacky Wednesday?
I was truly unsettled by Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. It's an incredible book - understated, quirky, sad, scary.
Not a book, but Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is hands-down the most chilling story I've ever read. Scarier than any book I've read, certainly.
& from my childhood, In a Dark, Dark Room by Alvin Schwartz freaked the crap out of me. They're so simple but so scary, like one story about men in trench coats with really long teeth, & one about a girl whose ribbon choker held her head on.
Is it possibly "In a Dark, Dark Room"?
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Other-Scary-Stories-Reading/dp/0064440907#
thats literally the definition of "could"
otherwise it would be "will"
here, you might need this
He'll never know and won't care because you care enough to try.
When my wife and I got married we were flat broke. We had two little boys 3 and 5 from her previous marriage and not a lot to give them for Christmas so we were very creative.
There was a Christmas store in our area with a giant outdoor display of decorated trees, blow up figures and lawn decorations. We'd take them there once a week to visit "Christmas Town" and walk through, they loved it especially when it was snowing out. Our town had a holiday lights in the park display you could drive through for a fee but the night it opened it was free to walk through so we did that. Also when kids are that little some of the toys from the Dollar Store or Salvation Army are like receiving gold to them and you can get little things to pack their stockings. Also the cheap cardboard "bricks" you can buy flat and assemble fill out the giant mound of toys you'd like to see for them under the tree.
When they're little pump up the magic in their heads, their imagination will do the rest and make great memories.
PS - One of the things our kids loved the most was Wacky Wednesday based on the book - http://www.amazon.com/Wacky-Wednesday-Beginner-Books-R/dp/0394829123
On Tuesday night after the kids were in bed we'd go around the apartment and hang all the pictures upside down, put colored bulbs in the lamps, move the furniture, put mustaches on the family photos and put food coloring in the milk. Then when they woke we'd tell them to put their clothes on backwards and start looking for Wacky Wednesday stuff. They still talk about it today and they're 13 and 15.
Merry Christmas!!!
Well - today IS Wednesday.
Wacky Wednesday!
My kids love this book. https://www.amazon.com/Wacky-Wednesday-Beginner-Books-R/dp/0394829123
Their parents, however, loathe it.
Books for Young Children
I Can Read - Books
Books for Older Kids
My 14 month old twins LOVE to read. Some of our favorite books include:
The Dreamers series by Emily Winfield Martin. All of her books are amazing. The art is beautiful and there’s whimsy to her stories. There are two more books outside of this set I linked and they enjoy them both.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is very well liked by them, although it’s not my favorite. They love the bright colors and the fun attitude. It was one of the first ones I read to them when they were newborns (with the big paper back size) because the colors and shapes were bold.
Mama Loves You So is a short and sweet story. I love the illustrations and my girls love it too.
Wish is especially great for those who have struggled with infertility or loss. And even if you haven’t, it’s a lovely story. Warning: I still cry every time I read it to them.
Every Little Thing for you Bob Marley fans
Take Heart My Child is a sweet book for those of you who are sentimental. They don’t always love to sit still for it now, but it’s great for newborns.
And in general, they LOVE the books you can interact with and touch a feel like the dog/animal books with different furs. They like this Monster book that has a bunch of textures. They like this Dont Touch the Button book that is fun and interactive. They love flip the flap books, especially ones with animals and they helped them learn the sounds very easily. They also like the little puppet books.
Books I am buying from my childhood are The Little House and Who Put The Pepper In The Pot?. I like to go to the thrift store and browse for anything familiar. Totally lost with anything new though but they have everything.
the 1 star reviews on amazon are pretty fun...
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Other-Scary-Stories-Reading/product-reviews/0064440907/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0
Hey, infants and toddlers need books too!
Yummy Yucky was a favourite in our house. So were Dinosaur vs Bedtime and Goodnight Gorilla.
Getting a little bit older, my kids loved all the Arnold Lobel books and so did I. They were/are among the very few of my kids' books that I never ever got tired of reading over and over again, night after night.
Personally I loved the Madeline books and the Babar books, my daughter liked them but I could never get my son into them.
This was a huge favourite for both my kids in the toddler/preschool years. I can still recite some of those stories from memory (and do).
The original Thomas the Tank Engine stories are really charming. If your nephew ends up taking an interest in trains and that sort of thing, this is a gorgeous book.
eta: almost forgot: Maurice Sendak is essential. My kids can both recite Chicken Soup with Rice from beginning to end.
When he can reliably read those, I love the BOB Books series for emerging readers. They're little books and they really build up children's confidence nicely. Plus, they don't randomly throw in non-phonetic words out of nowhere like a lot of early readers. Bonus if you get your own set, the illustrations are mostly black and white so when he's mastered a book, he can color it. That might be a cool incentive for him and a way to "celebrate" reading the book successfully.
edit: added link
Loved the show, loved the books. They're I Can Read Books, so they're awesome for learning, helped me to do so. It was great. Plus, they're cheap and they're just cute little stories. Get those kids some books! Any of the books on my list will be awesome. That books, plus others are on there!
Also, look into Amelia Bedelia, one my fave characters from when I was little. They're so cute and silly.
When I was a kid I really loved Dr. Seuss. The Foot Book was my absolute favorite Dr. Seuss book.
Surprise me! :)
you got a lot of great movie opinions now here is a kids book my daughter loved at that age The paper bag princess
I wasn't raised religious, so never had those issues, but my parents are feminists and read me The Paper Bag Princess (http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Bag-Princess-Annikin/dp/0920236251) and Not One Damsel In Distress, (http://www.amazon.com/Not-One-Damsel-Distress-Folktales/dp/0152020470) both of which I and my sisters loved. When they get older, Tamora Pierce has a bunch of fantasy books with female protagonists, and Diane Duane's So You Want To Be A Wizard books were also favorites.
Edit: How could I forget Madeline and Pippi?! https://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahbreen/feminist-books-ftw?utm_term=.hs2PoxVvj#.ug2KJ8X0B
Also Ella Enchanted is a great retelling of the Cinderella story, I think it's either Jane Yolen or Ursula K LeGuin
this book prepared me
In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories?
Ah man that reminds me of this gem from my childhood
Yeah, it was a bit over the top. If I remember correctly, it was "spirit week" at school and this was "Wacky Wednesday."
I read this book several times when I was younger don't know if this is what you were hoping for but it popped in my head as soon as I read your question!
It's called "Bony Legs" by Joanna Cole. I still have my childhood copy, Baba Yaga is so creepy in it.
That one's from In a Dark, Dark Room, also by Alvin Schwartz. That and the books above were my intro to horror. Such a huge part of my childhood.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1940384184/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_xir2BbG2SAWYR
I wonder if those are the super-indelible-never-come-off-till-you're-dead-and-maybe-even-later colouring markers? Sometimes they never come off.
In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories, maybe? It was my favorite from grade school.
http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Mastery-Level-Storybook-Rainbow/dp/0026863553
A lot of people have recommended the 'Bob' books to me:
http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Books-Set-Beginning-Readers/dp/0439845009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342496092&sr=8-1&keywords=bob+books
The first book in the set can be read with just 4 sounds. Each book after that introduces 1 or 2 new sounds.
http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Green-Yellow-Classic-Munsch/dp/1550372564
In A Dark Dark Room And Other Scary Stories?
edit: I guess that's part of the same Scary Stories series you said wasn't it.
What about The Thing at the Foot of the Bed
Buy her The Paper Bag Princess! It's a cute twist on a fairy tale where the princess rescues her prince from a dragon on her own. When he insults her appearance afterward, she decides not to marry him.
https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Bag-Princess-Robert-Munsch/dp/0920236251
In A Dark, Dark Room and other scary stories, by Alvin Schwartz. The story you want is the titular one, 'In a Dark, Dark Room.'
Happy haunting!
Amazon has lot of French children's books:
Le Petit Prince (of course!)
Madeleine
Les Oeufs Verts au Jambon
Poisson Un Poisson Deux Poisson Rouge Poisson Bleu
Le Chat Au Chapeau (in English and French)
Horton Entend un Zou!
Je t'aimerai toujours
Le Petit Nicolas
Bonsoir Lune
La Chenille Qui Fait Des Trous
Max Et Le Maximonstres
L'Arbre Genereux
And Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers
Your sketch reminds me of the dragon from Shrek.
I googled "female dragon kids book" and the only thing that seemed to resemble your sketch from that time frame is The Paper Bag Princess
That was actually from Schwartz's other collection "In a Dark, Dark Room."
This one maybe? A promise is a promise-Robert Munsch https://www.amazon.ca/Promise-Robert-Munsch/dp/1550370081
I have nothing relevant to add, but this is my favorite princess story.
Edit: Mixed up brackets. Derp.
Amelia Bedelia! I read these books all the time when I was younger. Perfect name for your kitty. =)
Lipstick! Or the pencil you suggested for me (it's $3.44 from Blue Scandal)
My son is 2, we rotate through a number of books..
Some on the current rotation:
The Jolly Postman It was about a mail man delivering letters in a storybook kingdom, and some of the pages were envelopes, and you could actually take all of the letters out and read them. It was awesome.
Remember this one too? It also scared the bejeesus out of me.
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Room-Other-Scary-Stories/dp/0064440907
Yeah... For anyone who doesn't know, just click here.
This one was another one of my favorites as a kid.
Purple, Green, and Yellow.
Also Little Critter books
this book of virtues specifically.
When I first read this I thought it was In a Dark Dark Room. There are a bunch of creepy stories for kids and I'm pretty sure the last story in the book had the part you are talking about with the ghost.
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Room-Other-Scary-Stories/dp/0064440907
Apparently there are some who didn't keep up on their reading when they were kids.
http://www.amazon.com/Oh-Thinks-You-Can-Think/dp/0394831292
Hmm what's his reading level like? Is he catching on quick, or is he learning a little more slowly? In my son's kindergarten class, his teacher read the Mercy Watson books to them, which are hilarious. Some of the kids were able to read them by themselves, but my son was not at that level until the end of first grade.. Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type is another good one - my son LOVED it. He was able to read that one in kindergarten though partly because he'd memorized it from hearing me read it to him so so so many times - but many kindergarteners are able to read it by themselves. The classics like Dr. Seuss are always a good stand-by too. Green Eggs and Ham is especially great because it's the same 50 words over and over, so it's easier for beginning readers.
If he's not a very strong reader (and if he likes animals/nature), he might enjoy the National Geographic kids series of books - pre-reader level. They're great for giving more confidence to readers who get overwhelmed by small print and lots of words. Hoot Owl was my son's favorite; I even got him a snowy owl plushie because he loved it so much. But we also had the Safari one, the Rainforest one, the one about bugs.. If you want to get him something with an educational angle, the Bob books are really good at teaching sight words and building reading ability.
In a Dark Dark Room
Scariest thing I read. I was 7 though and I was reading it at the mall as my mom was shopping.
On Amazon I found some more Latin translations aside from Harry Potter:
I also remember that my college bookstore had a bunch of picture books in Latin (along with other foreign languages) - parents liked to get them as gifts for their kids. Might be worth looking at a local college?
Was it Danger in Quicksand Swamp?
It's been many years since I read it, but that was my first thought on seeing your title, and I seem to recall those details being in there.
Dr. Seuss, Bernstain Bears, Little Critter, Eric Carle, Purple, Green and Yellow, Roald Dahl. Harry Potter, Wayside School is getting Stranger, Junie B. Jones. Someone mentioned The Little Prince....I wish I had read that when I was younger, it is absolutely amazing.
Get that girl a library card! Let her pick out the books too. And I know our library has programs to encourage reading like reading groups and story time. I would definitely get her into your library as soon as you can!
When I first saw Up I thought it was based on The Little House. It was one of my favorite books as a kid.
Edit: added link.
Maybe Bony-Legs
https://www.amazon.com/Bony-Legs-Joanna-Cole/dp/0590405160
my almost 4 year old is reading the Bobs books. They are great for beginning readers to build confidence slowly.
http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Books-Set-Beginning-Readers/dp/0439845009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412881941&sr=8-1&keywords=bob+beginning+reader+books
Not occult in the 'requires the proper colored robe' sense, more in the 'nobody fucking knows this shit' sense.
http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Making-Science-James-Gleick/dp/0143113453/
http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Wu-Li-Masters-Overview/dp/0060959681
http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Path-Kiyoshi-Kuromiya/dp/0312174918/
http://www.amazon.com/Oh-Thinks-You-Can-Think/dp/0394831292/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1402754744/
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Game-Theory-Martin-Osborne/dp/0195128958/
http://www.amazon.com/Finite-Infinite-Games-Vision-Possibility/dp/B006Q9RCV4/
http://www.amazon.com/Synergetics-Further-Explorations-Geometry-Thinking/dp/0025418807/
I don't know a single thing about you, who you are, what you are looking for, why you are interested, or why you care.
This just happens to be a great excuse to let people know about a couple books I care about.
A book is 'occult' by virtue of it containing information about which most people haven't a clue.
"Occult" anything need no special handshake.
Baby's first book? Hm. If it's going to be read to the child without them wrecking the paper, I recommend https://www.amazon.com/Chicka-Boom-Board-Book/dp/1442450703 - it has a super pleasant rhythm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPf5Rr1SGi4
For self-paced you really want something indestructible and cleanable, with bright colours and not very many words. Maybe cute animals. Something like https://www.amazon.com/Nontoxic-Education-Activity-Crinkle-Toddler/dp/B076P8C2X4
You might want to look into the BOB books. They're available for all levels of reader and are designed for kids who are learning to read.
Does he have a genre preference?
Sounds kind of like Bony-Legs? https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/bony-legs-by-joanna-cole/
Or possibly something from In a Dark Dark Room and other scary stories? Couldn’t find a quick summary of the stories but might be worth a look. https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Other-Scary-Stories-Reading/dp/0064440907
Get a set of Bob books. My daughter is 4 almost 5 and my who is a kindergarten teacher has her read one every night. Normally we spend a week or more reading the same book until she has it down. Then every few weeks we read all the ones she's completed.
Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0439845009/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_JoLTAb650M9H4
Was it this?
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Other-Scary-Stories-Reading/dp/0064440907
In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories?
Not this one? http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Virginia-Lee-Burton/dp/039525938X
For when they're older:
All the [Amelia Bedelia] (http://www.amazon.com/Amelia-Bedelia-Collection-Read-Book/dp/0060542381/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334469423&sr=1-1) books and all the [Mrs. Piggle Wiggle] (http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Piggle-Wiggle-Betty-MacDonald/dp/0064401480/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334469515&sr=1-1) books
Was it this book?
The Baba Yaga witch is a russian folk story but they did an english version of it called Bony legs . Im pretty sure it is just a comb and mirror she uses and these were gifted to her from the witches cat and dog . I found this copy on amazon but there are lots of different versions of the story and there are alot of similar ones involving the same witch but in different scenarios and main child characters . I will try and add the link but may not do it right .
https://www.amazon.com/Bony-Legs-Joanna-Cole/dp/0590405160
Hands down, I think every single (preschool-aged) child should have the "Blue box of BOB Books" as their very first readers:
http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Books-Set-Beginning-Readers/dp/0439845009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376121216&sr=8-1&keywords=bob+books
After Bob Books, other books that were on the "early-ish" side included:
"Jack and Jill and Big Dog Bill" by Martha Weston:
http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Jill-Big-Dog-Bill/dp/0375812482/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376121351&sr=8-1&keywords=jack+and+jill+and+big+dog+bill
We also liked, "Fat Cat Sat on a Mat" by Nurit Karlin:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Fat-Cat-Read-Book/dp/0064442462/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376121427&sr=8-1&keywords=fat+cat+sat+on+the+mat
The "Biscuit" and "Dick and Jane" books were great to have on hand. I think it's worthwhile to own a small stack of easy readers for the child to become familiar with and read over and over... and then get some to circulate from the library for new challenges.
Not to say that second languages deserve a special place in a high school curriculum, but if you're arguing with someone who does believe that (or just wants to preserve the status quo), then it won't work if they understand that programming languages aren't really effective substitutes for natural languages.
Just because they're both types of "languages" doesn't mean you can swap one in for the other without fundamentally changing the curriculum. For example, one might argue that learning other languages is important because, like... cultural awareness, history, having a well-rounded liberal arts education, etc. Whatever. Point being, if you get rid of all the Latin classes to make way for programming classes, people aren't getting the same thing out of it.
I think a lot of people would be resistant to the idea of replacing Latin classes with Java courses. And rightfully so, because:
Only a few bucks on amazon! WOO!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0064441555?pc_redir=1406514512&robot_redir=1
Nostaaaaalgia
It seems you should be able to get one here
> This is literally your argument.
haha man... you really need to work on reading comprehension. Here you go bud.
You'll thank me later.
Here you go!