Books by Mrs. K and Mrs. A

Comic Phonics is a paperback collection of  stories for beginning readers.  The stories use mostly CVC words, or words that include a consonant, a short vowel, and another consonant. These are the first words children learn to read.

To quickly build reading confidence, beginning readers pronounce two-, three-, and four-letter words  which follow the rules of phonics. Exaggerated comical stories, repetitive phrasing, and expressive illustrations engage early readers.The result is a fun reading experience leading to comprehension, recall, and stimulating discussion.  These stories are also true children’s literature with beginnings, a middles and an ends.

Activity pages follow each silly story to repeat vocabulary and  stimulate recall and meaning.  Children fill in a missing vowel, complete a word search, answer riddles, match words to pictures, a complete crossword puzzles and discriminate between similar-looking words.

For more than 20 years, Mrs. K has been tutoring early readers. She wrote her own books when she couldn’t find authentic stories (with a beginning, middle, and end) written in entry level phonics.  She learned that the more ridiculous the story, the more apt early learners are to read it.

These books are a collaboration between Mrs. K and her sister, illustrator Mrs. A Both are former school teachers with masters degrees in education.

In Look, Babysitter, Look, little Nell is supposed to be sleeping while Mom is out.  But instead, she skateboards through the house, paints the dog, juggles and drops eggs, and even twirls around on the ceiling fan.  Meanwhile, Liz, the babysitter, gabs on her phone, oblivious, until Mom is due back.  Then the babysitter angrily sends Nell to bed and cleans up the mess.  When Mom returns, she says what an angel Nell is.  Will the babysitter tell what really happened?

The story’s expressive child and babysitter, its humorous situations, and its simple yet silly drawings engage beginning readers who read by sounding out the many consonant-vowel-consonant words like but, can, did, dog, doll, dress and drops. Purchase at Amazon.com.

In Not a Lot on Top, a girl wishes her bald father had hair.  She experiments by covering his head with a mop, a fishing net, a lamp shade, a kitchen pot, a paper bag and even a cat.  Then she sees a photo of her father holding her as a baby, and realizes if he loved her as a bald baby, she can love him just the way he is.

The story’s animated child and father, humorous situations and playful illustrations coax beginning readers to sound out the many consonant-vowel-consonant words like jump, just, kid, lamp, let, and look. Purchase at Amazon.com.

In Not Yet, Baby, a baby wants to do what his big brother does:  drink from a cup, ride a rocking pig, walk the dog, jump on a trampoline, swim in a pool, and take the school bus.  But he is too little, so his mother’s hands pluck him away while encouraging the big brother to grow.

The story’s determined baby and energetic big brother, its humorous situations, and its colorful drawings encourage beginning readers to read the story by sounding out the many consonant-vowel-consonant words like sips, soft, sand, swim, swing, and tells. Purchase at Amazon.com.

In Dad Won’t Let Go of Meg’s Yo-yo, Dad gives Meg a yo-yo for her sixth birthday.  Instead of cutting the string shorter, he shows Meg the many tricks he knows:  tossing the yo-yo over his head, walking the dog, skinning the cat, and flicking and spinning the yo-yo.  But Dad won’t let go!  Meg leaves, discouraged.  Eventually, Dad realizes he has been a bad dad and apologizes.  Meg says it’s all right, and Dad cuts the yo-yo string to fit Meg.  Meg is happy with her new gift.

The story’s lively child and father illustrations attract and hold the attention of beginning readers who are able read the story by sounding out the many consonant-vowel-consonant words like plods, puts, sad, set, six, skin and spins. Purchase at Amazon.com.

In Play, Pop, Play, little Tom wants his grandfather, Pop, to play with him.  Over and over Tom asks, and over and over Pop agrees to search for bugs, to hide in a tent, to play trucks under the table, and to swim in a blow-up pool.  When at last Pop naps in a hammock, Tom climbs onto a tree bough overhead and scares Pop who climbs up after him, hugging little Tom.

The story’s persistent child and his obliging grandfather, its playful situations, and its simple yet touching drawings charm beginning readers who will sound out the many consonant-vowel-consonant words like asks, at, bills, bugs, buns, but, can and dog. Purchase at Amazon.com.