On the Road to Reading Success: BOB Books #Review & #Giveaway #HolidayGiftGuide

Thank you to BOB Books for providing me with free product in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions shared are my own.

In our house, we love to read. I enjoy reading historical fiction, hubby loves to read popular series, and B (who is now five years old) loves to read books for beginning readers. I feel very blessed that B has such wonderful teachers who spend a lot of time with their students on reading and writing. B is in his last year of pre-school, and I desperately want him to be prepared for kindergarten. We don't seem to have trouble with sight words, but reading from a book can sometimes be a different story. I don't rely on B's teachers to teach him how to read or write- that's my job, so it's important to me that we have the reading tools and resources we need at home, to encourage daily reading.

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.

We've already had a great first experience with BOB Books, and our first book set. The book set has several different books, and introduces one character at a time, which I love. I sometimes read through some of B's storybooks, and feel like I can't keep up with so many little characters! If I can't keep up with them, I don't know how B does it!

We received the adorable First Stories Stage 1 Set: Learning to Read, from BOB Books.

In this set, we're re-introduced to Sam and Matt, the characters we met in our first BOB Books set. These fun little guys love to have awesome adventures together, and we love finding out what they'll discover next.

The first stories set features 12 easy to read books, and a guide for parents/teachers.

Each story set features different characters, like Sam and Mat...

...cute animal friends...

...and Dot and Mag!

BOB Books has over 35 years of reading success with children and their families. We live in a time of endless screens- and books that read themselves to your kids. At first, I loved this idea, but then I realized that I was doing B a huge disservice by not reading these stories to him myself. Don't get me wrong- we read together every day, and have been doing so since he was a baby. I believe that starting early with him was key, and prompted his joy and interest in reading years later. Reading with your child is one of the most important things you can do with them.

Don't know where to start? Use this handy guide!

Read to Your Child

Play Sound Games

Use symbols

Encourage Scribbling and Drawing

Play Games

Use Props

Draw

Create a Reading Bucket List

Point Out Short Words

Be Sensitive

Avoid Criticism

This helpful guide helps me develop my own plan/strategy for reading with B, and teaching him to read on his own.

Simple sentences help children with sight word recognition, and sentence formation.

BOB Books not only introduce characters, they introduce punctuation and sentence structure. B and I are already working on singular, plural, nouns, subjects, etc. He loves to read, and loves to use his imagination to make up his own stories, so this is a great time to start with this. This particular set of books is great for K-1st grade. I know we're not quite there yet, but it's fantastic prep for what will come next year.

Features of the BOB Books First Stories Set

A brand new Bob Books boxed set featuring 12 easy-to-read stories!

Great for kindergarten and first grade readers, this boxed set includes twelve mini-books. This set is the perfect stepping stone to independent reading since it contains four level A books, four level B's, and four level C's.

In typical Bob Books style, these mini-books have lots of repetition, friendly illustrations, and silly stories.

Bob Books First Stories is a great companion to Bob Books Set 1: Beginning Readers and Sight Words Kindergarten and Sight Words First Grade.

$12.99

If you'd like to get started with BOB Books, in finding the perfect starter set for your child, take this quiz to find out which set you should start out with.

BOB Books has so many wonderful sets for your child.

Take a look at some of these sets- perfect for the home or the classroom...

Sight Words

Rhyming Words

Complex Words

Cupcake Surprise

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!