Brenda is a reading specialist at a small school that teaches from kindergarten through to eighth grade. She participated in a pilot study to see how incorporating dedicated teaching with Phonic Books could improve reading outcomes for older, struggling readers.

Brenda began with a third grade student who was behind on working with vowels; particularly on transitioning from short vowels to long vowels. “She had several holes in her reading and was struggling, so I thought she would be a good candidate to try this." Using the Alba series, Brenda’s student showed progress in her reading rate and fluency. “After another year's work with the same student, she rolled out of my class and was reading on her grade level."

Brenda also worked with an eighth grader who had previously been homeschooled and was reading at a third-grade level. Using Amber Guardians, she was able to move him up to around a fifth- or sixth-grade level. She felt that the interesting content and age- appropriate style of Amber Guardians made a big difference with her student.

 

Amber Guardians doesn’t look babyish. It’s interesting. The artwork, the illustrations are captivating for the kids. They like it. It's not like it's dumbed down. They can really feel like they're reading something that's got some substance to it. And I like that, too."

Brenda’s students not only improved in reading skills, but developed a love for storytelling through the plot-driven books. "All my students liked the stories so much. They’d say: ‘Miss, are we going to get to finish the book? I really want to know how the story ends.’ 

 

When you can get a struggling reader, who typically doesn’t enjoy reading, interested in wanting to finish a book because they find the story interesting—that's huge."

Cross-curricular links and varied vocabulary were also a big pull for Brenda and her students, such as those found in Hidden in Paris. “It’s got the activities where you're learning about the catacombs, [and] you're learning about places in Paris, so we were able to bring some geography into that. I [also] like that the vocabulary is rich. You have multisyllabic words that you can work with, so you're not always stuck with the one syllable words, which you often get with decodable texts for developing readers."

Brenda enjoyed using the Phonic Books program so much that she went on to apply for a grant to expand her school’s collection, and would recommend it to other reading specialists.

 

I think that it is definitely a beneficial, worthwhile, power-packed bunch of materials that students can really enjoy, [and] that teachers can enjoy using with their students."

Brenda and her students’ experiences highlight how Phonic Books can support a wide range of learners, from elementary through to middle school and beyond. Age-appropriate stories, structured progression, and cross-curricular links pull together a set of materials that provide real, tangible outcomes.

Discover Phonic Books catch-up readers. These action-packed fantasy and adventure stories, as well as our new nonfiction series, will captivate older readers. Every catch-up series has age-appropriate illustrations and storylines that older students ages 8–14+ can enjoy.