Book Club › Books by level › Level 0
Books for level 0 readers: first books to sound out
Before or at the start of kindergarten: the first books a child sounds out. Up to 4 words on a page, one short line, with a picture on every page.
Peabody's level 0 stories, free to read now
- A Dim Man11 short pages
- A Tan Map11 short pages
- Dad Naps9 short pages
- Did It8 short pages
- Man, Pan, Map8 short pages
- Pam Pins a Map9 short pages
- Pat, Pat, Pat12 short pages
- Pit, Pat8 short pages
- Sid Sat8 short pages
- Sip, Sip, Sip8 short pages
- Sit, Tap, Nap8 short pages
- Tap in the Dim12 short pages
- Tim in a Tin11 short pages
- Tim Taps10 short pages
From Peabody's kids' book lists
Books that help with sight words and decoding
- Bob Books Set 1: Beginning Readers by Bobby Lynn Maslen · ages 4-7. Twelve tiny books that use only a few letters at a time (m, a, s, t) so children can sound out every word. Widely used for first decoding practice. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss · ages 3-7. Rhymes on short vowel word families (hop, pop; day, play). Beginner Books series with limited vocabulary. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Go, Dog. Go! by P. D. Eastman · ages 3-7. Dogs of all kinds go places in cars and hats. Simple vocabulary and a lot of repetition, useful for early sight words. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman · ages 3-7. A baby bird hatches and asks everything he meets if it is his mother. Simple words and a repeated pattern. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli · ages 2-6. A little yellow puppy won't go to bed. I Can Read! My First level, in very short sentences with strong picture clues. Bookshop.org · Amazon
Top 25 books for a Pre-K child
- Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown · ages 0-4. A bunny says goodnight to each object in a green room, with a rhythm that slows down on purpose. Works as a bedtime ritual and for naming everyday things. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle · ages 1-5. A caterpillar eats through a growing pile of food over a week and becomes a butterfly. Counting, days of the week and the life cycle sit inside one story, with die-cut holes to poke. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. · ages 1-5. Colour and animal names repeat in a pattern a child can predict by page three. Good first book for a child who wants to 'read' alone. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak · ages 3-7. Max is sent to bed without supper, sails to an island of monsters and becomes their king. Handles anger and coming home safely. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats · ages 2-6. Peter spends a day in the snow, with footprints, a snowball in his pocket and a melted surprise. Quiet, with collage art and a Black child as an everyday hero (Caldecott Medal 1963). Bookshop.org · Amazon
Best picture book read-alouds for ages 2 to 4
- Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown · ages 1-4. A quiet room is named object by object until everything is asleep. The pictures change from color to gray as the light dims. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle · ages 1-4. Counting, days of the week and a caterpillar eating through holes in the pages. Good for kids who like to touch the book. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. · ages 1-4. One repeating question and answer with a new animal on every page. Toddlers start finishing the lines early. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell · ages 1-3. A lift-the-flap book where each animal sent from the zoo is wrong for a pet. Short enough for the wiggliest listener. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault · ages 2-5. The alphabet climbs a coconut tree in a bouncing rhyme. Reads aloud like a chant. Bookshop.org · Amazon
Series at this age
None at this level: the series on Peabody start at about level 7, where chapter books and comics begin. All series in order.