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The ultimate guide to decodable books

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So … how do you feel about decodable books?

I admit it. I avoided them for a long time.

I felt that decodable books were boring, stilted, and would kill a love of reading.

I preferred to use leveled books with beginning readers. I thought that if I taught them multiple ways to solve words, their fluency and comprehension would be better than if they learned to read using decodable text.

But I changed my tune when I studied the science of reading.

Despite what I’d learned in graduate school, I discovered that our brains must connect the sounds to the letters when solving words. Having kids solve words by using the picture or context clues can actually teach bad habits for later on.

The good news is that there are some amazing decodable texts that are exactly what new readers need.

If you’re looking for the best decodable readers, you’re in the right place!

In this post I’ll share my favorite decodable books. I’ll also share some other choices that are not my favorite but are still popular with other teachers.

Finally, I’ll share some free decodable readers for those on a tight budget.

Favorite Decodable Books

Half-Pint Readers

Half-Pint Readers are fantastic for brand new readers. The books, created by a kindergarten teacher, are simple but engaging, and the books actually tell real stories with a problem and solution. The end of each book includes both simple and high level questions that build comprehension. Best of all, the books are affordable so you can easily purchase multiple copies.

Highly, highly recommended!

Great for: Level A is perfect for brand new readers who are just starting to sound out words. Level B introduces blends, digraphs, and simple word endings. Level C features long vowel sounds and more blends and word endings.

Price: Very affordable! Consider purchasing multiple sets for reading with small groups.

Get Half Pint Readers here

Reading for All Learners

We used the I See Sam books (Set 1) a lot when my little guy was first starting to read words. They start very, very slowly … gradually adding letters and sounds, and with very few words on each page.

The stories would not make sense without the (wonderful) pictures, because the text can feel rather stilted. “See Sis sit in it. See me. See me sit in it.” I can overlook the stilted language, though, because the pictures allow for wonderful discussion, and they truly are adorable.

Great for: Set 1 is perfect for brand new readers, but with six sets that get progressively more difficult (and 141 total books), you can go a long way with these.

Price: Very affordable! Go even less expensive and get the black and white editions.

Get Reading for All Learners books here

Whole Phonics

If decodable books have a bad name, Whole Phonics will redeem it. The stories are creative and funny, and the pictures are the best I’ve seen. My only issue is that the verb tenses often switch (a pet peeve of mine), but the stories are so good I can overlook it.

The books are on the longer side, so you may want to start with a simpler set or read a book in more than one sitting.

Great for: Older struggling readers and kids who are past the very beginning stage (but still learning to sound out words).

Price: These are high quality books with a price to match (around $5 a book). Keep in mind, though, that these are full color, well-developed stories and worth every penny.

Get Whole Phonics books here

Flyleaf Decodable Books

These are the loveliest, highest quality decodable texts that we own. They are also on the expensive side, but definitely worth a purchase. The books advance rather quickly, and there aren’t a lot of books for each pattern, but you will love having them in your collection.

Great for: Kids who are advancing quickly. The books are incredible, but there are only a few for each stage.

Price: These are high quality books and priced accordingly, at about $4 a book. (When you think about it, that’s still a great price, but you need so many decodable books for beginning readers … and the cost adds up fast.)

Get Flyleaf books here

S.P.I.R.E.

This is a wonderful series of 120 books. I love that even the simplest stories have interesting plot lines. The books slowly advance, adding new phonics skills through six levels.

The illustrations are black and white, but they are still engaging.

Great for: Both brand-new readers and kids moving at a faster pace

Price: The books are just under $4 a book, which feels a little pricy for black-and-white readers. But the stories are high quality, so I think it’s worth it.

Purchase S.P.I.R.E decodable readers here

The Alphabet Series

This is another high quality series that slowly adds new sound-spelling correspondences with each book. Don’t let the black and white interior illustrations fool you … these are interesting stories with funny pictures.

Absolutely one to own, and a great choice for small group lessons!

Great for: Both brand-new readers and kids moving at a faster pace

Price: The price varies, but I was able to find them for about $3 a book (linked below).

Get Alphabet Series books here

PhonicBooks

These are a favorite of many reading teachers. For the first books, kids only need to know a handful of letter sounds. The books have a unique illustration style (photographed backgrounds with cartoons drawn on top). The early books are very, very short — making them a great choice for brand new readers.

Best for: All levels! The early books are ideal for brand new readers, but PhonicBooks has a variety of series, including books for struggling readers up to 14 years old!

Price: The Dandelion Launchers (pictured above) are sturdy, full-color books for about $3 each.

Get PhonicBooks here

Power Readers

Susan M. Ebbers’ power readers are incredibly affordable because they are made of thin paper and are meant to be disposable. That’s because the front of each book includes (quality) worksheet-type activities that students can do to prepare them for reading. Even more activities are in the back, including comprehension questions.

Great for: Teaching beginning readers in small reading groups (Before and after reading activities are built right into the books!)

Price: Since these are flimsy, write-in books, they are just over $1.50 each.

Get Power Readers here

Express Readers

Full disclosure! I did not expect to like these books. I am not a fan of the Comic Sans font, and the illustrations are much less professional than other books I’ve reviewed.

But when I got my hands on them, I fell in love very quickly. These books are very sturdy with thick pages. I love that the text is nice and big, on the left side of the page. Each book has quite a few pages, and the best part is that they tell good stories that make sense. My little guy certainly didn’t notice that the pictures are less professional. He laughed at them and loved that he could find the little fly on each page. These are on the pricier side, but worth it.

Get Express Readers here

Junior Learning decodable books

I wavered about whether or not I should include these in my favorites list because the quality varies so much. The illustrations and physical quality of the books are always good, but some of the stories are so bizarre and contrived that it was impossible to have a good conversation about them afterward. And yet … so many good ones too! You certainly can’t beat the selection.

Great for: Beginning readers and learners with advancing skills

Price: Extremely affordable; you can often get them for around $2 a book. A good thing, since in a set there may be several books with such odd storylines that you won’t want to use then.

Get Junior Learning books here

Other Decodable Books

Jelly and Bean books are from the UK and look amazing! I haven’t gotten my hands on them, but I’d love to. I’m impressed by the samples on the website.

Primary Phonics are vintage decodable books that are quite popular. I can’t in good conscience put them on my favorites list because I really didn’t like them. In fact, I purchased the full set and returned them after previewing them. The stories were strange and hard to follow, and because the books are almost 100% decodable, the stories are very stilted. I appear to be in the minority, however; many people love these books.

BOB Books are another popular choice, likely because they are so affordable and so easy to find. I don’t care for the stilted language (“He did get it”), and the illustrations leave much to be desired. But they will do the job.

Check out Little Learners & DSF Decodable Readers from Australia. The stories themselves are set in regional Australia and look wonderful.

Dog on a Log books look strange to me; the author has taken public domain images and slapped them together. The sample books I have read do not appeal to me, but many people say that their learners with dyslexia love Dog on a Log books and report great success using them.

Little Learners Love Literacy are decodable books from Australia. I haven’t used them, but they look fantastic … such great pictures!

Sunshine Decodable books are from New Zealand and look wonderful; I’ve heard great things.

Spalding has a variety of decodable books that look promising.

High Noon offers decodable books that are appealing to older learners.

Treetops Educational Interventions has a large and growing set of printable decodable books that follow their OG sequence. You’ll appreciate that each book lists the letters/patterns students should be familiar with as well as the high frequency words included in each book. Each book also includes comprehension questions.

Reading A to Z is mainly a source for leveled books, but they do have a decent decodable section.

Simple Words offers decodable chapter books.

Ed and Mel’s Decodable Adventures are another option for decodable chapter books.

Apparently Geodes has amazing decodable texts. My guess is that they are quite pricy.

SuperBooks are vintage decodable books that have a special charm. The stories are often interesting, though the text can feel stilted. You cannot beat the price; these are sturdy, full-color books for just over $1 a piece.

Bug books are short vowel decodable books that you can purchase.

If you’re looking for high quality decodable chapter books, the ones from Heggerty look great.

Free decodable books

SPELD SA (in Australia) has a huge set of free decodable books that you can print or read on a screen using Powerpoint. You can get their older free decodable books here.

Core Knowledge has free decodable readers that you can read online. They’re absolutely lovely! You do need to do a little digging to find them.

You can get free Measured Mom Nonfiction Decodables right here on this website. Just click here to view and download.

You can also check out my decodable books that feature high frequency words. Each free book comes with a lesson that explicitly teaches a high frequency word. Find them here.

Starfall has free decodable books that you can print. (You can also purchase full-color editions.)

Have you seen our short vowel decodable passages?

Decodable Passages: CVC Words

$5.00

This affordable set features 23 passages to help new readers develop fluency with CVC words. Each page includes blending practice, a short reading passage, a comprehension question, and spelling practice.

Buy Now

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Reader Interactions

55 Comments

  2. Denise Henry

    I am an art teacher and am in the process of creating decodable books for new abd struggling readers. The first set is almost complete. It will have 13 books in this set If you are interested please check out Unlockreadingbooks.com

    Reply to this comment

  3. Kimberly

    Thank you Anna for the wonderful list of decodable books! The Half Pint Readers look like an amazing resource, but Im curious, on the website they mention being a phonics program. Would this be considered a complete phonics program or just a supplemental tool? Im looking for
    a good phonics program for my grandson entering kindergarten next year (homeschool) and I was hoping you could recommend something if the Half Pint readers weren’t intended to be a complete
    phonics curriculum.
    Thank you for your labor of love! I would feel lost without all your wisdom and insight 🙂

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Hi Kimberly! I love the books, but I haven’t used the program. I would definitely reach out to Half Pint Readers and share your question. I’m pretty sure the creator is a former kindergarten teacher, so she should definitely be able to help you out!

      Reply to this comment

      • Carol

        I also use Ruth Miskin’s Read Write Inc books. The simplest set I have are the Green Books which are too difficult for beginners but they are good for readers who know some blends and digraphs. They have a “Speed Sounds” and blending practice at the front of the book, as well as a list of “Red Words” – words in the story which are not decodable. There is also a vocabulary check and a book introduction. At the back, they have comprehension questions and “Speed Words” for extra practice. There are fiction and nonfiction books.

        Reply to this comment

  6. Sandy Russo

    Hi to the Measured Mom team and followers.

    You may all be interested in the new free Phonic Readers from SPELD SA in South Australia. There are two versions available, the PowerPoint version have sound buttons when opened in PowerPoint and 100 titles https://www.speldsa.org.au/SPELD-SA-Phonic-Readers-New-Series

    And our old free series of decodable readers has many versions and worksheets https://www.speldsa.org.au/speld-phonic-books

    There are many more free resources on the site for those who are looking for more. Including SOS Spelling for Older Students and an Intensive Literacy program.

    We often show both parents and teachers your resources. So thanks Measured Mom

    Reply to this comment

  7. KT

    Simple Words Books are fantastic for older kids. My profoundly dyslexic 8 year old’s confidence has SOARED since reading his first chapter book. The website has a list of every single word in the books, so you can look and see if your early reader is ready. The Gold of Black Rock Hill is the current favorite.

    Reply to this comment

  8. Sarah

    I can highly recommend the Little Learners Love Literacy books. They follow an excellent sequence and don’t progress too quickly. They follow the same family and their friends throughout. Lots of humour and colourful illustrations. I also love the Sunshine decodables. I’m in New Zealand and the illustrations reflect Pasifika children. The Australian version has illustrations reflecting Caucasian children. The first three sets follow the same family of characters.

    Reply to this comment

  9. Pam

    This list is such a great resource, thank you for such a thorough and thoughtful review. I wonder if anyone who has used any of these has information or thoughts about the level of cultural/ethnic inclusion in the books. It’s something I want to take into consideration when evaluating and buying new materials.

    Reply to this comment

  12. Anna

    We purchased the Geodes decodable readers this year and they are amazing – great artwork and a lot of engaging nonfiction topics. They are quite pricey but if you are able to write a grant or persuade your school to make the purchase they are well worth it.

    Reply to this comment

    • Priscilla Flynn

      I googled Geodes readers and am having a difficult time seeing the text inside of their books. Were you able to find a good resource to look at before purchasing to see if they would meet your needs? Thank you.

      Reply to this comment

    • Charlotte

      I myself think they are a great start for building confidence. As a mom with admittedly zero training in education, I’ve been pretty happy with them. My quick learner out grew them fast, but the “stilted” language (and brevity) in the Bob Books was helpful to get my more insecure learner going again after he got “lost” in public school The art is, as Anna states, lacking, but it doesn’t stop my daughters (5&6) from sneaking them down to read through them again. I taught my now 5 yo almost entirely on these, followed by the measured mom sight word readers (which she’s taking down <>) and phonics readers, and she now confidently reads well beyond Kindergarten level in her spare time. I don’t have a lot to compare them too(aside from various hand me downs including leveled readers, world books, and first little readers— all of which were frustrating to start off with), but after these and the sight words, I can set my kid’ free with about anything they find interesting, and they figure it out. They’ve made it through 4 kids and should make it through the last 2. I will say the order is confusing. It appears they made a few levels, then went back and filled in the gaps with a later generation. My preferred order to teach them (of what I have) is collection 1, then 6, then 2, then the sight word s (K/1st), then collection 3. Still, I think everyone should grab the measured mom sight word books if they are still up and pair them with some sight word worksheets.

      Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Thanks, Stacey! I ordered the Jolly Phonics books but I didn’t care for them. Maybe I ordered the wrong set? They didn’t seem to follow a scope and sequence that made sense to me. I’m excited about Heggerty’s books, too; although it looks like they are starting with a higher level and not books for beginners.

      Reply to this comment

      • Carol

        Hi Anna,
        Yes, the JP scope and sequence teaches several digraphs – ai, oa, ie, ee, or, ng and oo – before all the single letter sounds have been taught. They also teach letter sounds before letter names. I have used this scheme for phonics teaching but I found it very confusing.

        Reply to this comment

          • Carol

            ch, sh, th, qu, ou, oi, ue, er and ar are also included in the “basic code” so any of these sounds might appear in the first level of books. I think the idea was to give children one way of spelling each of 42 sounds as quickly as possible so that children could write independently as soon as possible. (Forgetting – or not realising? – that one way of representing the long vowel sounds is simply by the vowels themselves! I think ai, ee, ie, oa and ue are some of the least common spelling patterns for the long vowel sounds.)

            Reply to this comment

            • Julia S

              The idea is to give a spelling for each sound that is unique to that sound, so they can avoid overlap in the code at the beginning. They are not the least common ways to spell the long vowel sounds, but they aren’t the most common either. The main thing is they they are the most consistently used for those phonemes, but aren’t used to represent other sounds.
              ‘ai’ is the 3rd most common spelling for /ay/ (after ‘a_e’ and ‘a’)(tied with ‘ay’)
              ‘ee’ is the 3rd most common spelling of /ee/ (after ‘e’ and ‘y’)(tied with ea)
              ‘ie’ is the 5th most common spelling of /igh/ (after ‘i’, ‘i_e’, ‘y’, and ‘igh’)
              ‘oa’ is the 4th most common spelling of /oa/ (after ‘o’, ‘o_e’, and ‘ow’)
              ‘ue’ is the 4th most common spelling of /y-ue/ (after ‘u’, ‘u_e’, and ‘ew’)

              Reply to this comment

  19. Anna Geiger

    Sounds like you have a wonderful plan in place! I agree that the leveled books in libraries and bookstores aren’t usually appropriate for our youngest readers. Reading A-Z and Progressive Phonics are two wonderful resources!

    Reply to this comment

  20. Anna Geiger

    I would not define it that way, Jane, but I’m afraid I cannot continue a pedagogical debate with you. My time is limited, and I have to focus it on caring for my five children and maintaining this site. I very much respect your opinion and appreciate your thoughts.

    Reply to this comment

  21. Anna Geiger

    Thanks so much for that link, Dawn! In the next couple months I hope to put together a more detailed post of decodable books for all the short vowels — I’ll be sure to reference the site you shared with me.

    Reply to this comment

  22. Anna Geiger

    Hi Katie! Yes, I do plan to do the other vowels… but it won’t happen as quickly as I’d like. Just not enough time in a day! Currently I’m starting to create the word family printables for short i… and when those are done and shared I’ll create another post like this one for that vowel. Moving all the way through — I’d love to be done with all the short vowels by the end of the school year. But a lot depends on what kid of temperament our new baby brings to the mix! Am trying to be real productive before January 🙂

    Reply to this comment

  24. Anna Geiger

    Hello Fathima – thanks for that recommendation! I have heard about that website from my sister-in-law. Is it all online learning? I guess I’m old fashioned because I prefer my kids to have very little time on the computer. My daughter in particular gets very moody and demanding after too much time on the iPad. But I’m glad it’s worked for so many people!

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Hi Sarah — I have heard that it’s great! I guess I’m old fashioned though, because I prefer to do learning apart from the computer whenever possible. I’m glad it’s worked for so many people, though!

      Reply to this comment

  26. Anna Geiger

    Kristina, they are almost impossible to find at the library or book stores. However, Reading A to Z is a PHENOMENAL website and such a fantastic deal ($90 / year for unlimited downloads) ! http://www.readinga-z.com/books/leveled-books/ I recommend that as a starting point. You will probably not need more than that, but another place to look is the Ohio State KEEP Books – I bought a parent set. These are actually written by Gay Su Pinnell and others at the school. Very affordable to buy as individual books. If you buy through the big names like The Wright Group, you can expect to pay at least $4 per book. That adds up way too fast!

    Reply to this comment

    • Jane Conway

      Hello,
      For decodable stories with PROPER stories, which follow the story grammar structure with funny characters and quirky plots, go to SmartKids and order the Pocket Rockets stories. They have a story for all 44 phonemes and kids love them! There are no tricks where children have to resort to inaccurate guessing. No boring repetitive phrases where some kids just look at the ceiling and say the words. They can REALLY READ using their phonic skills to decipher new words (which is what SKILLED readers do and shouldn’t we be teaching them the skills of SKILLED readers not defective readers?) and as they decipher the words then they can use their lovely comprehension skills to access the meaning. Their spelling skills will really improve as well!
      There’s an app as well for the first 18 stories available on all devices-Learn to Read Pocket Rockets
      smartkids.com.uk
      Regards,
      Jane

      Reply to this comment

      • Anna Geiger

        Jane, I have to disagree that teaching kids to read words by what makes sense or sounds right is teaching them to be defective readers. As I stated above, good readers use a combination of cueing systems to read. Phonics is just one part. I do agree, however, that phonics is an important part, and I appreciate learning about the Pocket Rockets stories. In the future I plan to write another post about where to find phonetic readers for all the vowels. I will need to check these out so I can include them in my list. Thank you for the recommendation!

        Reply to this comment

        • Jane Conway

          Thank you for your comments Anna, but the scientific consensus on learning to read shows that the “whole language approach which incorporates the “cueing systems” is inefficient. The work of neuro-psychologists, who have carefully accumulated their scientific knowledge using brain imaging and a great many classroom experiments has clearly shown that all children have similar brains. Their cerebral circuits are well tuned to systematic grapheme-phoneme correspondences and they have everything to gain from phonics which is the only method which will give them the freedom to accurately read any text.
          You state that, “Decodable readers are very useful for building up phonics skills, but if they are used in isolation, children do not learn to correct for meaning or syntax.” Are you saying that ‘decodable texts (which in effect are just texts containing the parts of the code already learnt) have no meaning or syntax? After all, ‘the cat sat on the mat” is decodable for a beginning reader AND has meaning and syntax as does any sentence with the words in the correct order.
          You also say that levelled readers contain “a lot of longer words that children may not be able to read in isolation but can read with picture and meaning cues.” This is guessing and extensive research has shown that only defective readers use these methods. Looking at a picture or coming at a word by what might sound right is NOT reading! When you come across an unfamiliar word I’ll bet that you sound it out. How could you guess a word if you’ve never seen it before??? Your meaning ‘cues’ WILL come into play however once you’ve sounded out the word. You will then try to use the context of the text to arrive at the MEANING of the word.
          I hope you will consider what I’ve said because I can see from your website that you are passionate about helping parents and I hate to see you giving inaccurate and outdated information.
          I suggest you read Stansilas Dehaene “Reading in the Brain” for more information or Elaine McEwan’s (an American principal) “Teach Them All to Read” which clearly explains why the ‘cueing system’ philosophy is just plain wrong.
          Respectfullly,
          Jane Conway

          Reply to this comment

          • Noemi

            YES! YES! YES!
            I agree 100% with Jane. My first child is in K and I have been shocked that balanced literacy tells children to use ‘picture power’ to read. THAT’S NOT READING! It’s a shame too because now all the major publishers are gearing there books towards leveled reading.

            Reply to this comment

        • jane conway

          But what evidence do you have to support your balanced approach? There is an overwhelming amount of evidence in favour of teaching children to read by explicitly instructing them in the Alphabetic Code and principles and then providing them with texts that match their alphabetic knowledge and decoding skills. This frees them up to concentrate on the meaning of the text without having to waste valuable time and brain space making guesses on words outside their phonic knowledge.

          Reply to this comment

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