Decodable Books: An Easier Way to Read at Your Library

Is a child in your life struggling to learn how to read? Are you having trouble helping them in understanding what they read? If this is a familiar struggle, then we have a resource at the library just for you: decodable books!

What are decodable books, you might ask? They are books which follow a phonics-based structure to teach letter patterns in a sequence to enable children to decode text found in the book slowly and methodically. It relies on utilizing common letter-sound patterns that the child already knows, going from simple patterns, and evolving into more complex word patterns. According to the International Dyslexia Association of Ontario, “decodable text provided for reading practice would only those letter sounds… such as “the rat bit the pig. The bad rat hid in the tin can. The pig bit the cat.”[1]

Learners are encouraged to read from left to right and to read all the parts of the words. When children learn good phonics skills, they are unlikely to fall into bad reading habits such as trying to guess the word or using pictures to figure out the context of the words.

At the moment, we have approximately 40 decodable books in the collection. Many of them can be found in our Easy Readers section, but we also have a few in the Juvenile Fiction section and the Young Adult section. They can be identified with a red “Decodable” sticker fixed to the spine of the book.

[1] https://www.idaontario.com/decodable-readers-and-text/

By: Sarah Harrison