Parents encounter a lot of confusion when choosing books within the category variously named "Easy to Read," "Beginning to Read," "Early Chapter Books," etc. Many publishers have specific lines of books aimed at the child just venturing into solo reading. These will range from titles with no more than six words on a page to books with full pages of text and pictures every third page or so.

How are you to make sense of the labels, color codes, levels and recommendations shouting from the covers? Many families find a series that works for them and stick with it. The most popular ones are the "I Can Read" (HarperCollins) series and "Step into Reading" (Random House). These series have well-thought-out and easy-to-understand guidelines for parents. Each one divides its list of titles into levels designed to take a child from the letter recognition stage all the way to chapter books.

-- From "Valerie & Walter's Best Books for Children" by Valerie V. Lewis and Walter M. Mayes

Pub Date: 10/07/98