First books for new readers: match the school's method

Schools teach reading in different ways. Some build words syllable by syllable, some have children blend individual sounds into words, and some focus on smooth, flowing reading from the very start. The approach is chosen by the school, and even two classes in the same school can differ. So it isn't enough to know how an older sibling learned.

The quickest clue is in the school bag: reading books and worksheets usually show which approach they follow. The second thing you need to know is the order in which letters are introduced. A book full of letters your child hasn't learned yet mostly teaches them that they can't read. You can find out both with one question to the teacher — wording you can copy is further down.

If you're choosing a book as a gift for starting school and don't know the approach yet, go for a story to read aloud instead. More ideas for the start of school are in the article A gift for a new school starter.

When reading is taught syllable by syllable, letters are added gradually over the whole year and the child joins them into syllables. In the first weeks after school starts in late August or September, they can only manage texts made of a handful of letters — it's too early for a book of their own, and the school reader keeps them busy enough.

In autumn, rebus books work well: some words are replaced by small pictures that the child "reads" alone, and you read the short words in between or let them try. Around the middle of the school year, when the class knows most of the letters, it's time for first books in large print with short words. The big publishers have whole series for beginning readers. Many are divided into reading levels, usually marked on the cover. Start with the lowest level or the shortest title, even if it seems babyish to you. Move up a level once your child finishes a book without much stumbling, often in spring. Right now, the feeling of having read a whole book alone matters more than an exciting plot.

Watch out for long words and consonant clusters. "Strawberry" or "splashing" are harder for a beginner in November than a whole sentence like "Mum has a hat." If a page has several words like that, put the book aside for a few months.

In a phonetic approach, the child reads by blending individual sounds into words rather than syllables. Letters are often introduced quickly, so a child can sometimes read a short text sooner than a classmate who reads by syllables — as long as it uses only the letters and spellings they have learned.

That gives one strict rule for choosing a book: the whole text has to fit what the child knows, not just the title. A book labelled "for beginning readers" that is full of tricky spellings can be unreadable for them in autumn. Check a sample page, not the cover. Many series for beginning readers are graded by level; take the first title as soon as the class knows most of the basic letters, and start with the shortest story. Words split into syllables won't bother your child, but they don't need them.

The tricky part is that a child who reads aloud slowly, sound by sound, may sound hesitant. Don't correct them towards the way you learned at school — that gives them two conflicting instructions.

Some teachers use an approach known as smooth or blended reading (one well-known method of this kind is Sfumato, by the Slovak author Mária Navrátilová). Children learn to read the sounds in a word smoothly into each other, without chopping it into pieces. At first the child reads deliberately slowly and stretches the sounds — that's not a mistake you need to "speed up" at home.

For a first book, that means short lines, large print and plenty of space between words, so the eye doesn't have to search for where to continue. Classes using this approach often work with their own reading materials, so it's worth asking which font and how long the texts are that the children are working with now, and choosing a book to match. Pick one that follows on from what the class is currently using, and give it to your child once they read whole short sentences at school. The teacher can recommend a specific title. After reading, ask your child what the text was about — understanding matters as much as the reading itself.

Reading alone is slow and hard work in the first school year. If your child only had books they could read themselves, they'd get stories at the level of a school reader. Next to their own shelf, they need a second one — the one you read from.