About

Developed by a teacher for teachers. Children rely on other strategies other strategies beyond picture clues. These are books that allow children to practice on decoding. They also have story element so that you can ask questions about the characters and setting. It is not just about reading the words.

WHY? As a kindergarten teacher, I had plenty of books for my students to read that relied heavily on picture clues and repetitive texts, and sights words, which are all great, but I wanted more books that encouraged my students to decode words. Picture clues go away fast in a growing reader’s world. With this understanding, I wanted text that explicitly directed the children’s attention to the words. I found that many of the decodable texts where either too hard or too simple for my students, so I started developing my own books a few years ago, and the journey has led me to starting D to Z Designs with my sister, Diana, who is a talented artist!

Many of the decodable text I found were expensive or black and white. My students noticed how other students had books with colored pictures and wanted their own. I found these books to be expensive, so I decided to make my decodable readers with colored pictures but also make them affordable for teacher to have multiple copies in their classroom and/or affordable enough to buy copies for the students to take home to build up their home library.

I also wanted the books to have enough of a story that answered questions like who, what, where, when, how, and why. In addition to sounding out words, comprehension was also a main focus for me. I wanted to make sure my students were able to understand what they were reading.

- Zandra Verner