Usborne Very First Reading is an inspired series of fifteen books, designed to give children the best possible start when learning to read.

In the first seven books, adult and child take turns to read, with the child’s share of the story becoming more substantial in each book. By book eight, the child reads the story and the adult is on hand to listen and help where needed.

Shared reading provides great support and motivation for beginner readers, allowing them to take part in an exciting story using very few words.

Each book includes fun puzzles to test the child’s understanding, and provide opportunities for discussion and further reading practice.

How does it work?
Children start by learning just a few phonemes, then learn to combine these in order to read whole words ["synthesizing" the phonemes, or running them together, hence "synthetic phonics"]. This gives them the confidence to tackle new and unfamiliar words, an important step toward independent reading. They are soon introduced to more phonemes, then learn different ways of spelling the phonemes they know.

Usborne Very First Reading introduces all the phonemes in a tried and tested order of progression, from simple letter sounds to complex and variable spelling and pronunciation.

Very First Reading proves that it is possible to tell inspired, imaginative stories based on our rigorous phonic framework, giving children both the phonics skills and the motivation to become successful readers.

 

Click on the arrow to watch a short video of Peter Usborne as he explains how children learn to read the English language and how these books are revolutionary in their approach ...

 

About synthetic phonics
Synthetic phonics has been very much in the news over the past few years. Most schools now use some phonics teaching in the early stages of reading.

What is synthetic phonics?
Synthetic phonics involves learning to recognize the distinct sounds, or phonemes, that go together to make up words. There are 44 phonemes in the English language. Some phonemes correspond to a single letter, like the c-a-t sounds ("cuh-ah-tuh") in the word "cat", and others to combinations of letters, such as the sh-ar sounds in the word “shark”.

Find out more about other series in the Usborne Reading Programme.