We are a family of readers and trying to raise a family of readers as well. When we moved we bought a house with floor to ceiling bookshelves. And you know what, we filled them up and I still had to buy and build a bookshelf for Eva as well. So we have a ton of books and love reading. When we were given the chance to check out two books from innovativeKids I jumped at the chance. When they arrived, Eva was very excited to check them out.

The first book was called The Best Gift Ever. It was a story about a cat who receives a goldfish as a gift. Being a parent and older I was wondering, is the goldfish a snack that someone sent to cat? I also think the fish thought the same thing based on his expressions. But in the end you find that Cat got fish as a gift to be Cat’s pet. It was a cute simple story that not only came as a traditional story. The first time you read it the story is a traditional kid’s story. The story then repeats but the words are outlined so that your child can can work on penmanship. The story repeats a third time and has blank spaces for your child to place stickers, there are two sheets of stickers and color the pages. The Draw It section is more like a Color It section which is still great. I think there was one thing that Eva could draw but the rest of the outlines were for the stickers. However, there is a drawing lesson on the last page that teaches kids how to draw Cat.

The Best Gift Ever

• Level 1
• Ages 4+
• $4.99

The second book was Bear’s Winter Nap. The story is about a little bear who is about to start hibernating for the Winter but he he doesn’t want to go to bed, yet. Bear’s mom has bear go out and play for the day before he hibernates. In the end Bear gets home and he’s wiped out and ready to hibernate.

Like The Best Gift Ever, the story repeats three times. First as a straight up story, second with words outlined so your child can trace them and the third time around it becomes a coloring book with outlines for kids to place stickers from the two pages of stickers in the book. In the back of the book you learn how to draw Bear.

Bear’s Winter Nap

• Level 2
• Ages 4+
• $4.99

Eva enjoyed The Best Gift Ever better than Bear’s Winter Nap but I think that is because we have some cats of our own. I liked both of the books because they are lots of fun and I love how they are set up. I like how the words are reinforced by reading the story, writing the story and then coloring the story. Reinforcing the story over and over helps Eva start to learn the words. The images show her what is being said on each page, too. It also helps that the images are adorable and the story is simple and fun. Eva hasn’t read it herself, yet. I ask her questions about what is happening to help her learn some of the words.

On the last page there are some activities that go along with the Read it, Write it and Draw it sections. The activities are very helpful and something that I’m going to try with Eva. The books are the perfect level for Eva. We’ll continue to work with them together and I think a little reader will begin to emerge.

Check out innovativeKids expansive website, www.innovativekids.com to discover the entire learn-to-read series that has taught millions of youngsters to love literacy. Winner of more than a dozen industry awards, the Now I’m Reading! line of products allows kids to feel immediate measurable success. What more could a grownup wish for a child?

About innovativeKids
innovativeKids celebrates its 11th birthday and continues its mission of bringing the best of fun and learning to children around the world. innovativeKids creates unique books, games, toys and puzzles for kids birth to 12 with the belief that having fun is the best way to learn — and more fun means more learning! Visit them at www.innovativekids.com to learn more about their hands on minds on product. You can also take a look at their Facebook page for more ideas from other parents who are also working with their kids.

Disclosure: We received these books to work with together. The opinions about them are 100% mine.