"All About Robin Hood" by Claire Llewellyn. An engaging and brilliant book to stimulate young minds.

To an average child, it can often feel like this in your head when you are learning to read

Back in January phonics were a hot topic for us, as Charlotte began to experience the sharp end of early years introduction to phonics and decoding.

At times, it felt like we couldn't dare broach the subject of reading books supplied by school for fear of turning Charlotte off reading books for pleasure altogether. We wrote several times about the 'unnatural' process of decoding and breaking down words, about the way we felt phonics didn't aid a child's recognition of key words, and undecodable 'difficult' words would always be a spoke in the wheel of any programme designed to introduce reading in a bizarre formulaic fashion.

As the year draws to a close I'm compelled to write about phonics again. Only a few short months ago when the sun was shining we described how difficult it was to maintain momentum over the long summer holiday, and that Charlotte's reading fell behind despite our best efforts to mix school books and books read for pleasure together with no distance between the two.

What's happened since then has transformed my thinking on the subject of phonics, and it perhaps offers hope to others who are in similar situations where they feel that literary luminaries such as Michael Rosen and others are right, and that phonics are not the right way to get children reading early.

I agree in part. It is not the right way if it's the only method you use. No programme designed to teach children to read from an early age can ever be as successful as parents engaging with their children and shoring up the 'learning' stuff with the 'fun' stuff (or ensuring that the learning stuff is made fun!)

It's absolutely vital to stress that we soldiered on with our approach of ensuring we read books for pleasure to Charlotte, that she saw us reading for pleasure (and of course being enthusiastic about books and stories), that we mixed in the supposedly 'subversive' stuff like comics, and that we devoted enough time to backing up the stilted phonics and school learning with fun stuff that she could later use in class, stuff that purely came from us.

In just a few short months since she started year 1 in September, her confidence has grown. Stage 6 books are - to put it bluntly - not challenging at all to her, and she breezes through them. My initial doubts about the decoding method, which caused Charlotte to individually spell out words every time she read, have disappeared now her rate of recognition / repetition has gained momentum, and she reads quite naturally.

Some words still catch her out but with a little help here and there, she usually only falls down on those words once or twice before she stores them up and will recognise and read them correctly next time.

Best of all, something that was fairly rare before - Charlotte disappearing off and reading books on her own, and not just the usual phonics or clear print books - but anything she can lay her hands on, in all manner of flowery and complex typefaces and layouts as you'd expect from children's books - are now devoured with gusto and enthusiasm.

The cherry on the cake - and if by now I'm beginning to sound a bit smug, I do apologise but there's a fine line between proud and smug - is that she is constructing and writing her own stories. The foundation of learning built on by a child letting their imagination loose on a page, beginning those first faltering steps towards building their OWN worlds, inhabited by their OWN characters, that's something that schools and the government are sadly missing out on and I guess that is the real crux of what annoys authors (and illustrators) who put so much effort into producing truly wonderful books, if we are treating reading purely as a measure of academic ability, rather than something to build little independent imaginative thinkers with, then I'd have to agree that I'd gladly cast phonics and other unnatural learning methods into the deepest darkest pit. Without creative kids emerging from schools with heads full of wonderful ideas, the world's going to be a horrible, ugly and sterile place to live in.

Bulls, they say, can get agitated and agressive as soon as they see the colour "red". Over the summer we discovered that children (well, Charlotte) can get quite agitated and even fairly aggressive as soon as they see something like this...






Increasing the levels of literacy in young children, even pre-school, is a hot topic and since Charlotte started school we've felt under huge pressure to turn something we've loved to share with her since birth into something that's going to win her gold stars and academic praise at school.

For someone contributing to and compiling a children's picture book blog, seeing well-loved picture books repackaged in this way sets off alarm bells. From tweets this morning, it appears that Francis Lincoln and Barefoot Books are about to take the plunge with repackaging and reformatting children's picture books in this way - with the aim of seeing an increase in use in classrooms, perhaps adding to and enhancing a child's learning and reading journey at home with books they're familiar with rather than easily identifiable "school books".

I see the merit in this, but in our direct experience, as soon as a child sees anything like the banner on that Chris Riddell book, or (alas) those much maligned characters from the Biff, Chip and Kipper books, they seem to switch off and disengage.

Over the summer we really struggled to maintain the momentum that had gathered in Charlotte's first year at school and her first experience of structured and scheduled reading vs reading for pleasure.

The original aim when we started reading to Charlotte was that she'd pick up our love of books from hearing us read stories to her. We hadn't factored structured learning into the equation but from her initial first faltering steps on her journey of learning to read, we knew that laying the foundations in reading for pleasure had more direct and beneficial effect than the sometimes stilted phonics and decoding methods used in class.

That's not to say that these methods should be binned but to see them filtering down into children's picture books, story books and seeing the leeching categorisation, age rating, reading level rating and pigeonholing of books feels like it's eroding the chance for children to discover the joy of reading at their own pace, in ways they prefer.

Of course, it's not a popular way of thinking - this business about letting children meander along at their own pace, when Education Ministers are all about speed, progress, efficiency and an almost "Tiger Mother" mindset that the earlier children are hit with learning exercises, phonics, decoding and testing, the better.

Over the summer, at a rough estimate, we've read less than a handful of books that are specifically structured "school" books, and each and every time one appears, there's a huge reluctance from Charlotte to engage with that book. Sometimes a single 30 page book can take a week to work through, not because of a lack of ability on Charlotte's part (her reading and decoding are spot on for her age group - if there is any merit in such a ridiculous concept as grouping children's reading ability by age).

In sharp contrast, I'd estimate we've read around 100 or so books to her and with her that are children's picture books or early chapter readers that aren't specifically designed to enhance learning or fit into any kind of reading programme and structure. "Normal" children's picture books are always extremely well received, and voraciously consumed at home. Children are not daft and they know what they like!

Obviously these programmes aren't new, and the methods of teaching children to read are tried and tested but the danger of the lines between books for pleasure and books for learning 'blurring' to this extent is that a whole generation of new readers won't see reading as anything else other than a chore or a task. Repackaging well loved children's picture books seems crazy, but if it must be done, make it optional - perhaps use stickers or a spare cover to offer parents (and teachers) the option of softening the blow a bit?

There's a good solid reason that children's books are so hugely successful and tied into so many aspects of our culture, and it's not because children enjoy books that lecture at them, they enjoy books that tell them stories, enhance their view of the world, and (for goodness sake, this above everything else!) entertain them and perhaps make them laugh!

Books are just a complete no-no for some kids

At times, the first faltering steps on the learning journey when a child is beginning to read lull you into a false sense of security. Children often learn at a blistering pace, so when a child suddenly loses all interest in reading themselves, what can you do?

When this happens, the mere sight of a phonics book seems to provoke a negative reaction, and even if you try and sneak in self-reading in other forms (with traditional storytelling books etc), a child will often (horror of horrors) begin to disengage with those too. We are seeing this with Charlotte at the moment, despite a real love of books being read to her - and a real interest in books (thankfully, phew!), she often feels under pressure when asked to read aloud herself so we're slowly cranking down a gear, and taking the attitude that gentle persuasion and patience, coupled with sticker-based rewards are having some impact and slowly encouraging her that reading isn't all work, work, work.

There's no magic answer, but some experts are describing the national phonics initiatives as being partially to blame. The accelerated learning programme for children in reception, to be expected to at least have a basis in self-reading by the time they reach year one, means that both teachers and parents are under massive pressure to try and ensure that their child learns to read, decode and recognise - often neglecting to take into account that all children learn at a different pace in a multitude of different ways.

We've looked at some of the available phonics resources (both in app and in print form) this week but here are a few sites that specifically tackle the thorny issue of reluctant reading:

Nelson Thornes Reluctant Readers / Fast Lane Readers - A handy collection of free downloadable e-books and resources to help children engage with reading outside of the often disjointed phonics experience.

Joyce Melton Pages Reluctant Reader Guide - Great ideas, tips and hints for reluctant readers

The McGraw Hill Reading Labs - Class and home based activities based around reading through play

Ransom Publishing - Great books for reluctant readers

Any more hints and suggestions are most welcome, please leave a comment below.

A range of Jelly and Bean Reception Stage Phonics Books

Charlotte's best bit: A fun and approachable book series with characters and situations more easily digestible than some other early readers series.

Daddy's favourite bit: Simple but fantastic book designs to keep kids focussed on the important bit - the reading, rather than proving too distracting with overly busy page layouts and illustrations.

Biff, Chip, Kipper and the whole Reading Tree family

If you have any more suggestions, please leave a comment below - we'd be happy to hear more from parents and teachers involved in and using phonics programmes and resources.

Since Charlotte began school, we feel like we've been snowed in by a swarming blizzard of phonics. It was quite surprising to see homework (HOMEWORK! FOR A 4 YEAR OLD!) being put in her schoolbag, but with the pressure for children to learn to read and attain numerical skills at an increasingly early age (even in Preschool if you read the latest recommendations), it's not enough to rely on (already overworked and put-upon) teachers to give your child that vital boost in their early reading skills.

As well as the national curriculum standards, and a wealth of material supplied by school we've been supplementing Charlotte's early reading journey with a combination of print, electronic and spoken resources. Not because we feel that it's a race, a competition with other children (and parents) in her class, but because she really wants to learn to read and finds it a little frustrating at times when the phonics books or classroom texts are so vastly different to books she enjoys having read to her.

Why is that, by the way? Even with some of the best writers (and illustrators) in the business contributing to programmes like the Oxford Owls / Oxford Learning Tree scheme, why are those books  such a turn-off for kids when by rights they should love them just as much as "The Gruffalo" or "Six Dinner Sid" ?

Supplementing Charlotte's classroom reading journey with things we've learned in phonics workshops at school, and also with things that worked for us way back in the mists of time when we were children do seem to have a direct effect but supplementing 'work' reading with 'fun' reading is essential.

Over the course of the week we'll be taking a look at some of the ways of helping a child's literacy journey (just some, as there are so many different books, apps, sites and helpful resources - each seemingly with the same aim but at times with some dizzyingly different approaches) with a mix of stories, games and exercises that really can help.

Whether you believe that reading aloud in class is useful to your child, or whether you believe phonics and decoding are worth anything at all, hopefully you'll find some new and exciting ways to get your children into learning to read and into books.

Janet and John Books. Yep I am that old, these and the Peter and Jane books were in use at my school when I was Charlotte's age! As Michael Gove once again wades into the fray surrounding early literacy and 'learning to read', with Michael Rosen and Julia Donaldson also weighing in with (better informed) opinions, it seems that 2012's favourite literary topic - encouraging and developing a child's reading skills from an early age - isn't going away in 2013.  Rightly so, it's amongst the most important - if not THE most important skill a child begins to learn when they start school, and though most schools adopt the national standards and phonics, and these are fantastically effective tools to aid a child's reading development, I too agree that they should not be the only thing used to encourage a child to read.  Our experience with Charlotte and also shared experiences we hear from other parents suggest that children often feel completely overwhelmed by the options on offer, to the point where different phonics standards, different methods of teaching non-phonic (tricky) words and of course the gigantic differences in reading 'ages' for children all stack up and do more harm than good.  The problem seems to be that the government (and to a certain extent most parents) want a 'magic bullet' - a quick-fire method of turning a child who can't read into one that is fully literate, can read confidently on their own and can start to further develop their literacy skills through a standard set of books neatly pigeonholed into a recommended reading / book list in the shortest time possible.  Our recent experience from Charlotte starting school has taught us that children have such a gigantic amount of information to soak up on a daily basis that when they do have 5 minutes to spare, the very last thing they want to do is sit down with a great story book and read because they can't differentiate between reading for pleasure and reading as a class exercise ('work'). This is something that Michael Rosen has expressed concerns about and it's very easy to see why. I partially agree with his view that parrot-fashion phonics learning can turn kids off wanting to actually read stories for the sheer joy of it, and it could merely be because repetition, recognition and 'breaking down' of words are too disjointed  and completely alien to the 'flow' of the way we read stories.  Julia Donaldson's recent views on how children can gain more benefit from 'acting out' stories while learning to read are absolutely spot on. There's a level of engagement required there, and a class full of children assuming a role and being encouraged to read it are instantly transformed into a brilliant 'team' who, with the right help and cues, can better memorise the words in a story as well as the overall story itself.  We have found the Oxford Learning Tree books to be quite engaging and useful, but again quite often we actually see better results in more traditional 'picture' story books when Charlotte is encouraged to read words aloud in the context of those stories. For obvious reasons, most phonics and learning books are kept short, often fairly lightweight in plot and character development, and fit structured patterns of recognition, staged learning and repetition / decoding that perhaps help a teacher track a child's understanding and ability to deal with that stage or level of reading learning but probably don't offer much beyond this. It's like trying to ascertain whether someone's a great driver by getting them to drive 10ft on a variety of surfaces before rubber-stamping them as a qualified driver, and sending them out on a long road trip across the country.  We obviously don't have a magic bullet any more than anyone else, but we've found that there is little or perhaps even no worth in just relying on the structured and phonics methods of encouraging Charlotte to read. If you do not supplement this type of reading with more traditional methods of reading stories (aloud, together and even letting a child have a go on their own) then they're going to miss probably the most important reason to learn to read in the first place - because it's a massive amount of fun and can open the doors of your imagination in ways nothing else can.