While you still have a little say in what books your child reads take the bull by the horns. You have less and less opportunity to influence what they read and as your child begins to choose books of their own you will need to work with them while you can.
As your child begins school begin to introduce books with small and few chapters. There are some fantastic beginner chapter books available that have less visual for the beginning reader and introduce the idea that a story is broken into sections called chapters.
When reading anything a basic rule of thumb you can work with is one that states that if a child is unable to read 1 out of 20 words then the text they are reading is too difficult. This is not ‘gospel’ but gives you something as a parent to go on when choosing material to read.
School library
Once children begin school they will enjoy the privilege of choosing their own book for recreational reading from the school library. If your children are anything like mine this will be a huge excitement. They will choose books for many reasons; based on an interest they may have in something, because it has fabulous pictures, because he and his classmates are having a little competition about who has the most pages in the book they choose.
Some teachers may cast an eye over the books the children are having issued and some may not. But do keep in mind that your child’s school readers are prescribed to them; they have no choice about that reading, so they have some power when choosing from the library.
