Reading books for 4 year old

[Amandella]

I am wondering what first reading books for my dd you could recommend? I want something really simple as she's only just spelling out words phonetically (eg cat, cup, hat, sit - you know the kind of thing). Would love to get her some really straightforward reading books but don't really have a clue.
Thanks!

[procrastinatingparent]

IME books that have words simple enough to be sounded out phonetically are really really boring.

If you want to instill a love of reading I think it is better to read lots of proper stories and every now and again get them to sound out a word you choose. We also used to play a game where they had to find all the 'the's and 'and's on the page, to help them recognise common words that aren't phonetic.

Ladybird do some early reading stuff that is phonetic but it is very dull, which is not much of an incentive to reading.

[TheFallenMadonna]

You could try the Usbourne Apple Tree Farm books, which have a simple top line and then a more detailed passage at the bottom of each page, so you can share the reading of the book, but still get a reasonable story.

Well, they're actually pretty dull stories IMO, but better than Peter and Jane...

[Amandella]

yes, I understand but I've been reading lots with her and I just feel she likes it better when she can spell out or read certain words so I guess I'm not saying a book that ONLY has phonetic words in it, but something quite simple.

[lucymack]

Usborne have a phonics series. You can see them if you click here. There is also the Usborne reading programme which is also good. You can see them here
Hope that helps

[Fennel]

There is a big set of simple ladybird books of classic stories/fairy stories. They are graded but some are very simple and my dds liked them for a long time. Things like
Little Red Hen,
3 billy goats gruff,
The Gingerbread man,
Rumpelstiltskin.

We find a lot of those in charity shops.

[procrastinatingparent]

Yes, Fennel, all of our ladybird easy-reader fairy tales come from charity shops too!

Green eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss has a very limited vocabulary, although by no means all phonetic, and it is great fun too.