Bob Books Set 5 - Long Vowels: Learn to Read with Bobby Lynn Maslen

AKai: I began this set with my preschooler and continued it in kindergarten.

United States on Sep 29, 2023

Ju: The best set of Bob books. Good length of story for young kids to try and read on their own. Revolves around the use of long vowel sounds and words. Repetition of words and sentence structure style. But might be slightly too simple to go from this level and onto chapter books.

Canada on Nov 14, 2022

Keith Janzen: My boy loves them. He was struggling before we introduced this book series to him.

Canada on Dec 06, 2021

Frank S.: I'm an American with a Japanese life and my 7 year old son was born and raised here in Japan.

I've bought a lot of English study materials, and the Bob Book series has been uniformly excellent in every way. 100% recommend.

Note that my kid at least wasn't self-directed enough to study by himself, except a few days he sat down to read the Bob Books. Instead, we had a mini "English Class" about an hour a day and worked through this material.

Japan on Sep 30, 2021

Joshua D. Rushton: After my 5 year old got most of her letter sounds down we started going through the Bob books, starting with Set 1. Our tradition was for her to read a story (almost) every night before I read something to her (sometimes I'd let her re-read something she read before, or I'd let her off the hook if she was really tired -- wanted to keep it positive). The books start super-easy, and they progress very slowly. After about 8 months we got through all the books and she can now tackle level 1-2 easy readers on her own. Learning to read is an enormous feat, and these books help parents guide kids through it systematically and at their own pace. I strongly recommend everyone goes through the whole series and then passes the books on to someone else!

United States on Nov 01, 2018

Jane H: The bob books taught my daughter to read! It's hard to find books that are easy enough for beginning readers and these are perfect. We have sets 1-5.

Canada on Dec 12, 2017

Mikhel AK: Love the Bob Books. They may not be the best early readers but as long as you stick with one thing from start to finish...as well, I purchased a few levels at a time, some more challenging than the next to enable my daughter to gain confidence with the more simple one and then gradually increasing in difficulty. She reads like a champ and is only in JK.

Canada on Aug 27, 2016

Rachael Garrison: At three and a half my son asked me to teach him to read. He knew the letter names and sounds so we moved to learning to rhyme, figuring out beginning and ending sounds, some sight words, and finally to blending. Blending was the most challenging and the Level 1 readers I picked up from the library were horribly frustrating. They include many words that are not easily decodable, way too many sight words, and were often upwards of 30 pages. Then I found the first set of Bob Books at the thrift store. They are just PERFECT for the beginning reader. The words are decodable, there are just a few sight words, and each book can be finished in one sitting.

I learned along the way that we needed to stick to reading the books in each set in order and that there was no frustration if I first had him read the words in the back of the book.

At four and a half he has finished set 5 and is a reader! I wish they made more sets...maybe a Bob Chapter Books set. Many Level 1 readers are still quite a challenge because of their length. I recently found a series called Green Light Readers and their Level 2 books have been a good follow up to Bob books.

United States on Sep 10, 2015

texascutie: If you have a preschooler, kindergartner or even a struggling first grader you will not be sorry you purchase these books! My four yr old told me he wanted to read so we started with set 1 and I have all 5 boxed sets plus the Kindergarten sight words boxed set. Today my preschooler is reading at the same level my first grader was at the beginning of the school year; and my first grader was in the top 3/4 of his class! The books are perfect in every way. The start off using 3 letters a book, one sentence per page and gradually get more complex letter sounds and longer stories. My son WANTS to read and we read twice daily! I taught my now middle schooler how to read at age four also but I know it would've been a lot less stressful (for me) if I would have known about these books. My son practically taught himself to read these books! Just make sure that your child can recognize each letter and knows what sound it makes. We only knew short vowel sounds when we started these, now my son can read words like 'wonderful', 'bright', 'another', 'business' and more! DO NOT HESITATE, buy these for your child; and yourself!!

United States on May 14, 2012

Danielle: My son started off the first grade slightly behind in his reading. I knew he could do it, he just needed the right reading material and practice. Completely lost on where to start, I liked the what I saw with the Bob books and the reviews. Starting with book 1 from the first set, my son has read through the whole series, mastering each book, in about 6-7 months. I loved how each book built on the last one, it was so easy for me help him move forward. He thought the books were really silly which helped keep him interested. Some books he wanted to read over and over because he enjoyed them so much. Now he's at grage level and a much more confident reader. When he read the last book, we went back to the very first book so he could see how far he came and he was very proud of himself. I am too! I just wish there was another set for the next statge:0(

BTW - One review complained that there were no long vowels to be found in this book, she's off. it was full of long vowels and not just the one with the silent "e".

United States on Apr 17, 2012