Aesop's Fables Storybooks Vol. 1 by BrillKids - A Review

Product:  Aesop's Fables Storybooks Volume 1

Price:  $37.50 (Regular - $50.00)

Company:  BrillKids

Age Range:  Infant - Early Readers

Other Products Available:  
Little Reader
Little Math

To Purchase:  Aesop's Fables

Brief Intro: (From website) -

Adapted from Aesop's popular children's fables, each story contains an important moral lesson gleaned from Aesop's wisdom! Several features make these storybooks quite unlike a traditional children's storybook. Traditional storybooks are great at helping parents tell a story, but much less so when it comes to teaching children to read.

When words and pictures compete for a child's attention on the same page, the pictures invariably win out. What's more, when parents point to words in traditional storybooks, they will often obscure the pictures - resulting in protests from the child. These books have been specially designed to give your child all the fun of storybook time, while also teaching your child to read.

Features include:

	Text and illustration presented on separate pages.
	More spacing between words to make it easier to see words individually.
	A blank flap extension to cover the illustrations as you direct your child's attention to the written text.

In-Depth Look:

This cute set includes 5 readers.  You can see the cover photos in the above picture.  The titles are -
The Fox and the Crow
The Lion and the Mouse
The Boy who cried Wolf
The Fox and the Grapes
The Turtle and the Rabbit

This book set was sent to us to read with our 2 year old, for review.  This isn't our first experience with BrillKids.  Last year, we reviewed their Little Reader program.  An online program intended to teach toddlers to read.  It was a delightful program and my daughter enjoyed it immensely.  Here is my review for that program.

Each book is a simplified version of an Aesop Fable.  Short and sweet, geared to the youngest of readers (or soon-to-be-readers).  With a nice little "moral of the story" at the end of each.  The pictures are full-color on high-gloss pages.  Check out the front and back cover of The Lion and the Mouse below.  You can see how cute the illustrations are.

The concept of the books is simple, yet unique.  BrillKids suggest that young children are so busy looking at the pictures, that they aren't paying much attention to the words on the page, thus delaying their ability to read.  The solution:  To put the words (big and bold, with extra spacing to separate the words) on one page and place the picture on the opposite page.  Then provide an attached flap to cover the picture until you are done reading the words.  So you read the big, bold words to your child while running your finger under the words to show the movement from left to right.  Then you lift the flap to show the picture corresponding to what you just read.  Once I show the picture, I  talk to my 2 year old about the picture, having her look for the piece of cheese on this page or mentioning how an animal's face looks happy on that page, things like that.

Here is an illustration showing how it works.  Pretty neat!

I like that the books are based on classic stories, Aesop's Fables.  I like that the stories have an encouraging theme and important moral, such as always being honest so that people will always know that they can believe you.  The pictures are so cute and cheery; the glossy pages are a nice quality.  The pages have just the right amount of words on each page, averaging 8-10 words.  Enough to make it an interesting story for those a little older; but, also short enough to hold the interest of the toddler set.  Also a good amount for those just starting to read on their own; so as to not overwhelm them.

My 2 year old likes them.  Sorry, I can't tell you what she likes about them.  :)  But, I do know that she does.  She will bring us the books to read.  When we finish reading it, she will either ask "Again" or she picks another one.  She will sit through a couple of them and truly enjoys them.  She listens to the story and points and comments on the illustrations.  Occasionally, she will get overeager and lift the flap before I am done reading.  But more often than not, she waits till I lift the flap.

Whether or not these books will aid in my daughter learning to read earlier, it is too early to say.   I do think that covering the picture to keep her eyes on the words as my finger goes across them sounds like a helpful idea to me.  But regardless of the results, I still love these books.  I still recommend them wholeheartedly.

 

My 2 year old loves having big sister read a story to her.

 Notice how big sis follows the words with her finger, as she reads.

 Little one has greatly enjoyed the Aesop fables.

 Big sis opens the flap to reveal the picture after reading the words on other page.

Loving a great story!  :)


As an added bonus, if you own the Little Reader software, you will be able to access these storybooks through the program.  It will put up the words and read them to your child.  Then it will show the illustration and read the words again.  This is a nice plus for Little Reader users.

To read other reviews click here. 


Disclaimer: I received these books free of charge, as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The above is just my opinion. Please remember that opinions may, and do, vary.