Every once in a while I come across a book that takes my breath away, with illustrations or words that speak to me on a level beyond just the text on the page. From the moment I saw the Home Grown Books Little Reader Series, which bring art and reading for children together, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them and it needs to be said – these are the most beautiful readers for kids I’ve come across. Ever.
As part of my little literacy series, earlier in the week I shared three of our favourite alphabet books, then yesterday we made some playing cards for learning sight words. The next step in the learning to read adventure for children is to begin enjoying readers. Readers are short kids reading books based on the level of reading ability of the child, which allow them to practice their sight words and learn new words while reading at an educationally appropriate level. The kids reading books that I’ve come across at school and the library have always had cartoons or photographs accompanying the text, so when I saw that Home Grown Books were bringing in artists for their readers, I had to take a look.
My Littlest here at the tiny & little household is very creative and artistic, so I was interested to see how he would react to these books which are so different to his usual readers. I quickly noticed that he engaged with the books, looking closely at the pictures, discussing them and in some instances creating his own story of what he thought would happen next. With the readers from school, there’s normally quick page turning once he’s read the text but with these books, he slowed right down. That, for me, is the perfect reading experience.
If you’re looking for a beautiful reader for your little one – or a gift for a special friend because these would make a lovely present! – I recommend stopping by Home Grown Books to take a look through the collection. Home Grown Books is an independent publisher based in New York that believes in the power of art and creativity to engage children’s minds. They publish board books for toddlers and book packs for beginning readers, all featuring stunning artwork and printed in such a lovely way that you’ll want to keep them out on the coffee table.
The Little Reader Series are themed packs of seven books, each with fantastical watercolour paintings. I chose The Adventuring Pack – which has Submarine, Flying, What Comes Next?, A Place to Live, A Collection of Characters, Maps and Let’s Play a Game – and Littlest and I have been loving reading them.
Before you dash over to check them out, join me for a quick peek inside these readers…
tiny & little makes every effort to undertake reviews fairly and transparently. We received a copy of this book pack for review purposes. This review was not paid for – the views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and we only write on tiny & little about things that we genuinely love.