Earlier this school year I had the opportunity to review Brill Kids Little Reader program. Well, now they have an additional way to help promote literacy among young children through a series centered around Aesop's Fables. I was given the Volume 1 set of two to review.
Volume 1 includes the following titles:
The Turtle and the Rabbit The Fox and the Crow The Boy Who Cried Wolf (our favorite)
The Lion and the Mouse
The Fox and the Grapes
So, what’s so special about these books? Well, the illustrations are bright and eye catching with rhyming text to capture and hold the child's attention. Each book has a special flap which is used to cover the illustration, so that the reading is concentrated on. Once the words are read then the child is rewarded with the picture. I really liked this concept, it gives the child's imagination a chance to wander and get a picture in their head of what they are reading or being read.
I read these books to my younger girls and we all enjoyed them, the baby a little too much as one of our books has bite marks and drool warped pages. Everyone enjoyed the hide-and-seek flap design and it made the stories even more fun. If you were trying to use these books with a beginning reader you would find that they are not phonetically graded readers, so your child may find several words that they do not know. However, the beauty is you could take your time focusing on learning the new words and learning the moral of the story.
The 5 book set of Volume 1 costs $37.50 (normally $50). For me that price is a little steep for paper back books that have to withstand the hands of a book loving toddler. Honestly, it would be hard for me to justify spending nearly $40. on this set of books. Did these books help my babies read? No, but they introduced them into the world of Aesop’s Fables and for that I can unconditionally recommend them for your family too. Two thumbs up!!!
You can read what my Crewmate’s thought of this series here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and as such received a copy of Brill Kids – Aesop’s Fables books in exchange for a thorough and honest review. Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of cash for my reviews. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but are not influenced by the company or the free product provided .