Alphabet Fun

Meg Gaertner, Editor

School has started, students are back in classrooms or learning online, and young learners are brushing up on or building their reading abilities. For these learners, the Alphabet Fun series is here to help.

Each book focuses on a different letter of the alphabet. Carefully leveled text introduces readers to common words that use the titular letter. Repetition of the letter helps readers practice recognizing it. And close text-to-image match and a picture glossary help build readers’ vocabulary.

Books in the series have guided reading levels (GRLs) from A–D, making these books ideal for helping beginning readers build confidence in their abilities to recognize and correctly pronounce different letters.

Thirteen books at GRLs A and B introduce some of the easier or more straightforward letters. At these levels, repetitive language patterns help readers build reading speed and facility.

Seven books at GRL C introduce the five vowels as well as consonants C and G. The books on vowels introduce the different sounds (long and short) that each vowel can make. C Is for Cat and G Is for Giraffe introduce the hard and soft sounds made by those consonants.

Lastly, six books at GRL D introduce the final six letters. Fewer repetitive language patterns and longer sentences help readers gain confidence in approaching larger chunks of text. And books on less common consonants such as X is for Xylophone and Z is for Zebra give examples of those consonants appearing at the beginning, middle, and end of words. Educators and parents can reference the Little Blue Readers Leveling Guide for further information on how the GRLs differ.

With vivid images and text specially geared for emerging readers, the Alphabet Fun series offers an engaging and enjoyable way for young learners to build their reading skills.