Let the Reading Begin with BOB Books #HolidayGiftGuide #Review + #Giveaway

I am so fortunate to come from a family of people who love to read. Both of my parents are avid readers. My grandmother was a county public librarian for years, so I spent a good bit of my childhood in the library, with my nose buried in books. As I grew up, I became interested in reading about everything, from fiction to poetry, and biographies. A love of reading prompted a love of writing, and you can probably figure the rest out on your own. When I was pregnant with B, some of my favorite gifts that we received for him, even at that early stage in his life, were books. We received children's classics, and as B grew, so did his own collection of books.

I began reading to B when he was still in my womb, and after he was born, began reading to him when he was just a babe. We take time out every day to read, and end each day with a story before bed. Given the literacy statistics for my county, state, and even for our country, I wanted to do everything in my power as a parent to encourage B to want to read with me, and eventually read on his own. Now that B is in school, his teachers work with his class on letter recognition, writing, and phonics. I like to build on that at home, especially since B only has school three days a week. I knew that he was ready to work on sight words, as well as beginning reading, but also knew that I would need the right resources to begin this new journey.

As I searched for books for beginning readers, I came across BOB Books. BOB Books came about when teacher Bobby Lynn Maslen recognize the specific needs of children who were beginning to learn to read, from ages 3-5. Maslen couldn't seem to find books that she felt were interesting enough for her students, so she decided to create books for them, on her own.

Please take a moment to learn more about Bobby Lynn Maslen, and BOB Books through this video clip from BOB Books.

After learning so many wonderful things about Bobby Lynn Maslen and BOB Books, I knew that their wonderful book sets would be a great starting place for us, on our journey to reading. I was pleased for the opportunity to connect with the friendly team of folks at BOB Books, who offered me a set of BOB Books of my choosing for review. I was asked to first take the Book finder Quiz on the BOB Books website, which would help determine which book set would be best for us to start out with.

After answering a few short questions, a book set was suggested to me, and I sent my selection to the team at BOB Books. Within just a few days, I had a package from BOB Books on my doorstep!

Our package from BOB Books arrived, and we couldn't wait to check it out!

Our BOB Books Set 1 for Beginning Readers came packaged in its own box set, and features the character Dot from the books, right on the box cover.

The back of the box gives parents/educators a head up as to what this set is designed to help with.

Set 1 for Beginning Readers Aims to...

*Teach a child letter sounds. With four sounds in the first story, children can read an entire book!

*Consistent new sounds are added gradually, until books inclue all letters of the alphabet (except for the letter Q).

*Short vowels and three-letter words in simple sentences make BOB Books Set 1 a fun confidence builder.

As I opened the BOB Books Set 1 Box set, I was greeted by three sets of colorful books.

An introduction card for parents is included, as well as twelve books for beginner readers!

Before I even cracked the first book open, I took the time to read the introductory card for parents, which gives more information about the book set. On the back of the card, I found several helpful tips for teaching a child to read. Some of the hints were things that we were already doing, regularly, such as: Reading to your child, Singing alphabet songs, Writing letters and words, Playing word games, etc.

I found these other tips helpful, as I planned my strategy for teaching B to read:

Play Sound Games

Use symbols

Encourage Scribbling and Drawing

Play Games

Point Out Short Words

Be Sensitive

Avoid Criticism

When I felt that I had my own plan in place, I was so excited to introduce the BOB Books to B, and enjoyed seeing his face light up as we read through some of the first books in the set. At first, we just went over the new letters and sounds being introduced in the books, and B listened as I read. I used my finger to point to words and sounds, and so he could follow along as I read.

Book one introduces the character Sam, as well as beginning sounds.

As the books in this set go on, new characters, sounds and themes are introduced, including rhyming (something B already understands and enjoys!).

The books also introduce punctuation.

It's going to take a while for B to get used to the concept of reading on his own. We are working slowly, taking our time to go through one or two books, and repeating them. In just a short time, B has already mastered recognizing several words, and is starting to be able to put a few short words together to read sentences on his own. It is such a wonderful feeling to see the joy on your child's face as they start to realize and understand that they are indeed reading on their own. I know it won't take much more time before B is reading an entire BOB Book to me! I can't wait!

As we do with other books in our personal book collection, we talk about what's happening in the stories we are reading from our new set of BOB Books. The back of each book has 'Look for These Ideas' on it, which includes suggestions for talking about the story with young readers. This is very helpful for parents, and educators, alike.

It doesn't surprise me that since we received our set of BOB Books, B is fully interested in picking up a book on his own. I have found him in his room during afternoon quiet time, reading by himself. I always ask if he'd like me to read to him, but he usually winds up reading to me- actually reading, and using his own imagination to create bits and pieces of the story on his own. An aspiring writer, he may be.

BOB Books has many wonderful book sets for all levels of readers.

Take a look at some of these wonderful sets available from BOB Books...

Sight Words

Word Families

Scholastic Readers Books

Long Vowels

Pre-Reading Skills

Many BOB Books and Sets are available in e-book format, as well, which makes it even easier and more convenient to learn to read wherever you may go! Even if your child has already begun to learn to read at school, I believe that it is a parent's responsibility to teach their little ones to read, and work with them at home to continue what they have been working on in school. Having this wonderful set of books is not only a blessing to my child, but to me, as well. It is helping me to understand how to help my child learn to read, which brings me so much joy. May all of our little ones grow to love reading!

BOB Books make wonderful gifts for all occasions- birthdays, baby showers (it's never to early to start gifting books!), special milestones, etc. BOB Books would make beautiful Christmas gifts, and I encourage you to consider them this holiday season. They would also be a wonderful gift to a classroom, school or special teacher in your life!

Want It? Buy It!

Head on over to BOB Books to learn more about their wonderful book sets! Take the Book finder quiz to find the book set that is right for your child. You can connect with BOB Books on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google +, as well as the BOB Books blog!

Want It? Win It!

One lucky MBP reader will win a BOB Books Set of choice! What a wonderful giveaway to jump start the Christmas season! This giveaway is open to US residents, 18 and older. Please use the RC giveaway entry form below to enter for your chance to win!

Special thanks to our new friends at BOB Books for allowing us to enjoy such a wonderful book set for beginning readers, and for offering this wonderful holiday giveaway for our MBP followers!

Good luck!