Science of Reading Books

The science of reading points to systematic, explicit phonics: children learn how letters map to sounds, then practice those sounds in decodable text, instead of guessing from pictures or memorizing long lists of sight words.

Miss Wendy wrote her books on that same principle more than two decades ago, for her own Montessori reading students. Miss Wendy’s Favorite Phonetic Books are 18 decodable readers in three levels:

  • Phonics-first: every word uses short vowel sounds and hard consonants your child has already learned
  • Only three sight words: a, the and is
  • No picture cues: no interior illustrations, so children decode the words rather than guess
  • Built-in progression: Level 1 is mostly CVC words, and Levels 2 and 3 add slightly longer words

Add the whisper phone for read-aloud fluency practice and the printable activities to check comprehension.

Also see: CVC books · decodable books for kindergarten · what are phonics readers?