TOS Review: "Rime to Read"

Rime to Read calls it self a beginning reading program. These are a set of 20 beginning readers that progress in difficulty. “Rime” based on word families that sound and look alike vs. "Rhyme" which are words that sound alike but do NOT look alike. The books do use short vowels, some blends, and introduce 35 common sight words when needed. There are suggestions with each book on how to use them.

With the lifetime access after purchasing the books, you have the opportunity to read these online or print them out from a PDF version. The online version includes clickable words that the child can click on to hear read to him if they are stuck on a word. Both versions are color coded to help with telling the words apart and develop phonological awareness. The drawings are simple drawings and do help give a hint as to what to read.

The author of the books is professor at Hunter College in NY with a PhD in special education. The co-author was a first grade teacher, taught in several schools, and has a masters degree in reading.

My youngest who is just beginning to read was easily and confidently able to read the first few books with just knowing the letter sounds, some blending techniques, and with help with the sight words. My struggling to-learn-to-read-child enjoyed the stories and helped him gain more confidence in his reading. Many of the early readers we have, have big words which the boys struggle to read. There are very few early readers that take into consideration the beginning reader and their challenges.

Overall I did like these books. The progression is done very well. I do like the option of printing them out, because I like to have something to actually hold in my hands. I did have an occasional problem with slow loading, but that could be me. Also, I could not always click on the word to have it read to me. Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t, however, I believe the owners are working on improving this.

You can buy a vowel set of 4 books for $9.99, or the entire 20 book set for $44.99. You can also request a free sample book to look at on the website.