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Meet Bob in Bob Bug. Songbirds Phonics are beautifully illustrated stories written by Julia Donaldson. The rich, patterned language is decodable making them perfect for phonics teaching and practice. Level 1+ Songbirds Phonics books focus on matching one sound to one letter, for example o as in dog.
- GenresChildrens
8 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 23, 2018
I know this book like the back of my hand now. In fact, I know it better than the back of my hand, because I can't see the back of my hand when I'm holding this book. It's a bit of fun, has engaging illustrations, and helps kids enter the world of reading.
March 23, 2026
There's two ways to review this "as a decodable reader" and "as a decodable reader by Julia Donaldson". Viewed simply as any other decodable reader it is slightly below average. And if you come with heightened expectations due to the author, you'll be disappointed.
So on to the first: the biggest flaw as a decodable reader is simply that it introduces too much, too fast, with no enough room for practice. The first story introduces 6 phonemes (a, t, p, m, o, c). The second story introduces two more (s, g), okay not too bad. Then the third story introduces 8 more phonics. Keep in mind that most phonics education aims for 2-3 new phonemes per week, so going from story 2 to story 3 is going to take 2-3 weeks of that gradual introduction of new phonemes.
And the actual story provides limited opportunity for practicing the new phonemes; each story only has so many words so there's not much space to give each phoneme room. In story 3 the new phoneme /l/ only gets used a single time ("lid"), same for /f/ ("fit"). It should be obvious that anyone needs more practice than that to learn a new concept, regardless of what we're talking about learning.
Most decodable series provide way, way more practice than this. One series my kids use introduces 8 phonemes (s, a, t, p, i, m, d) and then provides 20 different stories for them to practice decoding. Then it introduces 9 more and gives you another 20 stories. 40 stories versus 2.
Additional smaller complaints: my kids hated story 5 ("Zak and the Vet") which is about a dog getting hit by a car, getting a severe cut, and bleeding all over the place. They covered their eyes and said it was too scary to read. What a strange choice!?
The tricky/heart words had one or two head scratchers. In "Mum Bug's Bag" they introduce the word "hole", which is not a high-frequency word (in appears around #900 in frequency lists). In the context of the story (a hole in a bag) they could have just used "rip", which is fully decodable. At the point only a small number of tricky/heart words have been introduced -- I, of, better, he, the, to, will, her, of -- so it wasn't like there was a need to start introducing less common ones.
So just on the basic level of "is this a good decodable reader" my answer is: ehhh, not really, not "great" and probably not even "good". It isn't bad, I think it is just, at best, supplementary to other more comprehensive decodable readers. That are all going to do this but probably better? So just stick with them?
I imagine a lot of parents are drawn to this by Donaldson's name. Let's be honest, the "story" of other decodable readers can be pretty mind-numbing. But this isn't really any better, at least not in this first volume. I don't think that's really a fault of Donaldson, so much as showing the limits of what can done when you're restricted to a handful of phonemes in passages that are just a few dozen words. If even an acclaimed author like Donaldson struggles to come up with something compelling then perhaps we need to cut some slack for all the other authors of decodable passages.
So on to the first: the biggest flaw as a decodable reader is simply that it introduces too much, too fast, with no enough room for practice. The first story introduces 6 phonemes (a, t, p, m, o, c). The second story introduces two more (s, g), okay not too bad. Then the third story introduces 8 more phonics. Keep in mind that most phonics education aims for 2-3 new phonemes per week, so going from story 2 to story 3 is going to take 2-3 weeks of that gradual introduction of new phonemes.
And the actual story provides limited opportunity for practicing the new phonemes; each story only has so many words so there's not much space to give each phoneme room. In story 3 the new phoneme /l/ only gets used a single time ("lid"), same for /f/ ("fit"). It should be obvious that anyone needs more practice than that to learn a new concept, regardless of what we're talking about learning.
Most decodable series provide way, way more practice than this. One series my kids use introduces 8 phonemes (s, a, t, p, i, m, d) and then provides 20 different stories for them to practice decoding. Then it introduces 9 more and gives you another 20 stories. 40 stories versus 2.
Additional smaller complaints: my kids hated story 5 ("Zak and the Vet") which is about a dog getting hit by a car, getting a severe cut, and bleeding all over the place. They covered their eyes and said it was too scary to read. What a strange choice!?
The tricky/heart words had one or two head scratchers. In "Mum Bug's Bag" they introduce the word "hole", which is not a high-frequency word (in appears around #900 in frequency lists). In the context of the story (a hole in a bag) they could have just used "rip", which is fully decodable. At the point only a small number of tricky/heart words have been introduced -- I, of, better, he, the, to, will, her, of -- so it wasn't like there was a need to start introducing less common ones.
So just on the basic level of "is this a good decodable reader" my answer is: ehhh, not really, not "great" and probably not even "good". It isn't bad, I think it is just, at best, supplementary to other more comprehensive decodable readers. That are all going to do this but probably better? So just stick with them?
I imagine a lot of parents are drawn to this by Donaldson's name. Let's be honest, the "story" of other decodable readers can be pretty mind-numbing. But this isn't really any better, at least not in this first volume. I don't think that's really a fault of Donaldson, so much as showing the limits of what can done when you're restricted to a handful of phonemes in passages that are just a few dozen words. If even an acclaimed author like Donaldson struggles to come up with something compelling then perhaps we need to cut some slack for all the other authors of decodable passages.
December 14, 2019
If you expect a good JD, then don't buy this book. It's an average one-minute reader, too simple even to learn from.
September 21, 2020
Read at school with children beginning to read level 1.
May 4, 2021
Maddie now understands what a rug and a cot are.
November 2, 2023
Likte ikke dette universet så godt. Men ser de kan funke på en veiledet lesestasjon, der repetert lesing er i fokus. De har en infoside der de har dtatt ut lyder, ord og fraser som kan bygges ut, så lett for en lærer å bruke. Men jeg er mer glad i enkeltstående bøker og mer rim og rytme når en skal lære nytt språk.
May 14, 2012
Bobs mum is big. His Dad is Fit.
Bob thinks there is a rat in his bedroom but there isn't. It's just his cup.
Bob thinks there is a rat in his bedroom but there isn't. It's just his cup.
June 17, 2022
My most favourite book, I love it sooo much!
Read
April 18, 2018;;;
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews