Category Archives: Publishers/Brands

Brand: Ready to Read

History

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After extension research on Simon and Schuster’s business website and the Ready to Read website, I still have no idea when the brand was created. The very first Henry and Mudge book published in 1987 has the Ready to Read Level 2 on its cover, which is the earliest S&S series that I know of.

[Also, according to my library’s catalog, Macmillan used the term “Ready to Read” prior to 1987, beginning in 1973. This is, of course, incomplete research because it is just based on the 77 libraries’ holdings in our consortium.]

The “Ready to Read” website was created in 2005, according to whois.net.

The most recent re-boot of the “Ready to Read” brand occurred in 2011, with the star levels being introduced.

Leveling

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The are four levels in the “Ready to Read” series.

  • Pre-Level One: Rising Star Reader — Shared reading, familiar characters, simple words
  • Level One: Star Reader — Easy sight words and words to sound out, simple plot and dialogue, familiar topics and themes
  • Level Two: Superstar Reader — Longer sentences, simple chapters, high-interest vocabulary words
  • Level Three: Megastar Reader — Longer & more complex story plots and character development, variety of challenging vocabulary words, more difficult sentence structure

I’m a crazy statistics person, so I went through the Lexile and Accelerated Reader websites to give you an idea of how these programs [that I don’t necessarily agree with][1] compare to the “I Can Read” levels.[2]

Pre-Level One Rising Star Reader:
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood series had a 260L and 0.5AR average. [3]
Brownie and Pearl series had a AD140L and 1.0AR average.

Level One Star Reader:
Olivia series had a AD368L and a 1.7AR average.
Katy Duck series had a 415L and a 1.4AR average.

Level Two Superstar Reader:
World of Eric Carle series had a 522L and 3.3AR average. [4]
Henry and Mudge series had a 431L and 2.4AR average.

Level Three Megastar Reader:
History of Fun Stuff series had a NC920L and 5.6AR average. [5]

The only place that Fountas and Pinnell (Guided Reading) appears is in the recommendation app that I’ll write more about later.

Characters and Authors

Familiar Characters Based on Picture Books: Olivia, Trucktown, Eloise, Brownie and Pearl, Katy Duck, Bugs/Bugland (Carter)

Original Series: Twins (Weiss), Inch and Roly, Max & Mo, Robin Hill School, Friday the Scaredy Cat, The Really Rotten Princess

Classics: Eric Carle, Henry and Mudge, Puppy Mudge, Annie and Snowball, Pinky and Rex

Media Tie-Ins: Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Mike the Knight, Rabbids Invasion (Game), How to Train Your Dragon, Kung-Fu Panda, The Smurfs, Yo Gabba Gabba

More Information

My favorite discovery on the “Ready to Read” site is their Assets section which includes certificates, activity guides, and other incentives to help beginning readers. I think this section could be a great help to a ton of librarians looking for activity pages as passive programs.

Another great resource for librarians to be aware of is the App available on the site. By answering a few quick questions (gender, age, grade, Lexile, Guided Reading, and interests) — all of which are able to be skipped — will generate a selection of recommendations for “Ready to Read” books. This is a great place to start if you have absolutely no idea what to recommend, especially if a parent gives you a Lexile or Guided Reading level.

“Ready to Read” also has a Facebook page, but no Twitter or Pinterest as far as I can tell.

I also signed up for both the Parents email listserv and the Educators email listserv. I’m interested in seeing what the difference is between the two. And these actually accepted my work .info email address!

Notes

[1]:
I don’t think that assigning students to read within a certain level based on tests is beneficial. I believe all reading is good reading. That being said, these programs are based on text and sentence difficulty which is useful in trying to standardize reader levels across the various brands.

[2]:
So, I chose the series by looking at which books had the most statistical data available. I eliminated books that were media tie-ins (The Smurfs, Rabbids Invasion, Dreamworks’s Home) and also limited each grouping to a single author. Which means that since I evaluated “Henry and Mudge”, I did not evaluate “Annie and Snowball”.

[3]:
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood only had one book available on Lexile — “Thank You Day”, so it’s not a true average.

[4]:
All of the Eric Carle book data was actually taken from the picture book information. Only two readers had information available (“Pancakes, Pancakes” in Lexile & “The Greedy Python” in Accelerated Reader.)

[5]:
The NC in the Lexile means Non-Conforming score. Basically that the score is atypical for the type of material the book is. It was also the only Lexile score available for the series.

Brand: I Can Read!

History

The “I Can Read” brand began in 1957 with the publication of Else Holmelund Minarik’s Little Bear. For over fifty years, the “I Can Read” brand has published favorite friends and series from Amelia Bedelia to Pete the Cat.

Kathleen T. Horning writes in From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books:

While Seuss set the standard for excellence in writing, the “I Can Read” series set the standard for form. Recognizing that children learning to read are anxious to feel like “big kids,” Harper designed the books in their beginning reader series to look like skinny chapter books rather than picture book.

Leveling

“I Can Read” brand has six levels. The newest level — My VERY First — was created in 2014.

  • My VERY First — Basic features of print and reading, short and simple sentences, and full-color stories for children at the very first stages of learning to read.
  • Shared My First Reading — Basic language, word repetition, and whimsical illustrations, ideal for sharing with your emergent reader.
  • Level 1 Beginning Reading — Short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts for children eager to read on their own.
  • Level 2 Reading With Help — Engaging stories, longer sentences, and language play for developing readers who still need some help.
  • Level 3 Reading Alone — Complex plots, challenging vocabulary, and high-interest topics for the independent reader.
  • Level 4 Advanced Reading — Short paragraphs, chapters, and exciting themes for the perfect bridge to chapter books.

I’m a crazy statistics person, so I went through the Lexile and Accelerated Reader websites to give you an idea of how these programs [that I don’t necessarily agree with][1] compare to the “I Can Read” levels.[2]

Shared My First Reading:
Biscuit series had a 162L and 0.95AR average.
Pete the Cat series had a 192L and 1.4AR average.

Level 1 Beginning Reading:
Fancy Nancy series had a 315L and a 2.03AR average.
Splat the Cat series had a 398L and a 2.1AR average. [3]

Level 2 Reading With Help:
Amelia Bedelia series had a 364L and a 2.44AR average.
Flat Stanley series had a 376L and a 2.4AR average.

Level 3 Reading Alone:
Minnie and Moo series had a 378L and a 2.22AR average. [4]

Level 4 Advanced Reading:
Dinosaur Hunter had a 470L and 3.0AR score.

Lastly, I did not compare any guided reading levels (Fountas and Pinnell) since I do not have a subscription. But! “I Can Read” actually has a search by Guided Reading Levels available on their website, which is hugely helpful!

Characters and Authors

Screenshot of some of the “I Can Read” characters.

Familiar Characters Based on Picture Books: Amelia Bedelia (Young), Berenstain Bears, Biscuit, Diary of a Worm, Duck at the Door, Everything Goes (Brian Biggs), Fancy Nancy, Flat Stanley, Little Critter, Pete the Cat, Pinkalicious, and Splat the Cat.

Original Series: Axel the Truck, Charlie the Ranch Dog, Digger the Dinosaur, Dixie, The High-Rise Private Eyes, Huff and Puff, Mac and Cheese, Mia, Minnie and Moo, Mittens, Penny, Pony Scouts, Tug and Pup

Classics: Arthur (Hoban), Danny and the Dinosaur, Frances (Hoban), Frog and Toad, Little Bear, Prelutsky poetry collections

Comic Books: Batman Classic, Justice League Classic, Man of Steel, Superman Classic, Wonder Woman Classic

Media Tie-Ins: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Epic, Ice Age, Marley, Paddington, Plants Vs. Zombies, Rio 2, Walking With Dinosaurs

More Information

One of my favorite things that I discovered on the “I Can Read” site is in the Parents/Educators area — there’s a blog! There’s a fair amount of content here, including classroom resources and other tips for parents of beginning readers. The blog was just started in June of 2014 and it seems to be updated at least once a month.

“I Can Read” also has a great social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. They also have a Pinterest account, but it hasn’t been updated in a year. (Not that I can blame them — Pinterest is a trap!)

I also signed up for the “I Can Read” newsletter, but I had to sign up with my gmail account since it wouldn’t accept my work address as a valid email. (It is a little weird — it’s a .info extension.)

Notes

[1]:
I don’t think that assigning students to read within a certain level based on tests is beneficial. I believe all reading is good reading. That being said, these programs are based on text and sentence difficulty which is useful in trying to standardize reader levels across the various brands.

[2]:
The series chosen to evaluate were based on the series that “I Can Read” promotes on their levels page. For Level 3 & Level 4, there are no promoted series. Level 3 features two series: Minnie and Moo and the Jack Prelutsky poetry collections. Since no Lexile scores were available for the Prelutsky books (I KNOW, RIGHT?!), I chose to evaluate Minnie and Moo. Level 4 has only six books, so I just evaluated the first book as my sample size.

[3]:
Many of the Splat readers were Adult-Directed Lexile scores. I did not use those titles in the averages of the Lexile score.

[3]:
Some Minnie and Moo books were not labeled as Level Three readers, so I did not add those to the averages.