Decodable, Leveled, and Trade Books... Oh My! Which Is Right for My Child?

Hey there, parents, teachers, and anyone involved in helping kids learn to read! Let's talk about a common source of confusion when it comes to decodable, leveled, and trade books. With all of these different kinds of books, it can be confusing to know which one's right for your growing reader. Let's break it down.

Decodable Books

Decodable books are like the training wheels of reading. They provide support for those just starting out on their reading journey. Decodable books contain the specific phonics patterns that students have been taught. This encourages children to sound out words using decoding strategies they've learned instead of relying on the pictures for help or guessing. We want our children to be expert decoders so when they encounter more challenging words down the road, they know exactly what to do. If they've been taught to rely on pictures for help or guess, this quickly falls apart once texts get increasingly more difficult and there are no pictures.

Another benefit to decodable books is that they give kids a confidence boost as they see themselves getting better at reading. This helps your child develop a positive attitude about reading right from the beginning.

Drawback: Sometimes, authors of decodable books go to extremes to make the story as close to 100% decodable as possible. This can lead to the story not making sense and/or losing natural sounding language structures. When choosing decodable books, make sure to look for ones that sound natural and make sense.

Leveled Books

These books follow a gradient that takes into consideration things like print features, number of words on a page, sentence complexity, total length of the text, and a variety of meaning considerations. You may see labels with numbers (Level 1) or letters (Level D) to specify the level of the text.

Drawback: For children who are still learning the phonetic code, these books require them to do a lot of guessing based on context clues or pictures. This can be misleading to parents since the term "leveled readers" implies that the book should be at your child's ability level, but this usually isn't the case.

Trade Books

Now, trade books are a whole different ball game. Instead of focusing on phonics or levels of difficulty, they're all about giving kids a variety of reading experiences. These books come in all shapes and sizes, from easy-peasy to more challenging. They're like a buffet of reading choices, so your child can find something that's just right for them.

Trade books are awesome for building comprehension skills and expanding vocabulary. They introduce kids to different genres, topics, and writing styles, opening up a whole world of reading possibilities. Plus, they're great for keeping kids engaged and excited about reading because they can pick books that match their interests.

Drawback: Due to the rich vocabulary in trade books, children who are still learning how to decode  may struggle to read the words independently. Even if your child isn't able to read trade books on their own yet, these types of books are wonderful for reading aloud. 

So, Which One Wins?

Here's the scoop: there's no one-size-fits-all answer. It all depends on where your child is at in their reading journey.

If they're just starting out and getting the hang of sounding out words, decodable books are the way to go. They'll give your child the practice they need to become a decoding pro.

But if your reader is ready to spread their wings and explore different kinds of books, leveled and trade books are the ticket. They'll keep things interesting and help your child become a well-rounded reader.

If your child is somewhere in between-- still learning phonics patterns, but becoming increasing independent while reading, use a mix of all book types. Here's a really great visual from Wiley Blevins, author of Choosing and Using Decodable Texts:

Here's another chart that can help you determine which type of book is a good fit for your child:

The Bottom Line

Decodable, leveled, and trade books are all important when it comes to helping kids develop into successful readers. Decodables are like training wheels for phonics skills, while leveled and trade books offer a smorgasbord of reading adventures.f

The best approach? Think about your own child as a reader. Start with decodables to build those phonics muscles, and sprinkle in trade book read alouds to keep things fun and exciting. As your child becomes more efficient at decoding on their own, slowly transition to having them try trade books on their own. You may still have to support your child with challenging words, but you are slowly pulling back the support (just like when you finally let go of the bike without training wheels and watch your child take off!)

Regardless of where your child is at, the most important thing is to keep encouraging your reader and celebrating their progress every step of the way!

High Quality Decodable Readers

If you're looking for decodable books that have been carefully written to be both decodable AND meaningful, check out the LIFT OFF! Decodable Readers collection. I wrote these books when I was struggling to find quality nonfiction decodables for my students in reading intervention. The books were such a success (for both my students and students in classrooms all over!) that teachers started requesting I write fiction versions as well. So that's exactly what I did!

 If you're interested in purchasing any of the LIFT OFF! Decodable Readers, click HERE to learn more about which phonics skills are covered in each bundle. They are super easy to print (only one sheet of paper needed- just print double sided and fold in half!), have just the right amount of pictures, and contain meaningful plot lines that students enjoy reading.

Happy Reading!

--Erin