Cat Traps

This is a great little book to help foster independent reading. My son is struggling with reading in first grade, and this book is a nice one for him. We've found that a lot of books simple enough for him to read on his own are either babyish or completely boring, but this one is funny enough that he enjoys reading it, and simple enough for him to sound out the words. It has one sentence per page, and about four or five words per sentence.

I was introduced to this book by a young girl I was babysitting. She is six years old and loves the book. She can read it all by herself, which is important to build confidence. One thing we enjoyed was that each time Cat sets a trap, the reader is given a clue about what he might catch. She pointed out each clue and giggled. As an adult, it is easy to become bored or frustrated by a book that is too contrite; however, I thought this was a cute, enjoyable book.

This book is wonderful for early readers. It is repetative (necessary for children), but still fun. Every word in the book can be easily sounded out by a young reader. I find early reader books with words that children can not possibly read on their own to be counter-productive. This book is a self-esteem builder. My daughter read it on her own and then read it to my husband. She was very proud and so were we.

These books (the "Early Step Into Reading" books ) have been a great confidence boost for my daughter. Yes, they are partially memorized, but she has learned to sound out words. This is the 3rd "early step" book for [my daughter], and by far the best, since it's based on more than one basic rhyme. I'm glad I bought the library binding. I know I'll use it for my younger daughter when she learns to read!