Dogshark Readers: Red Set Hardcover – 31 May 2006

I bought these books from a recommendation and she was right. The books are awesome. My kids love the books. I also bought the blue set. The kids love that they can read them all by themselves. The kids ages are 6 & 4 & 3. The vendor was quick with my order. I would do business with this again.

I can't believe that there haven't been more people posting reviews about this marvelous little book set! Let me tell you about our experiences with the Dogsharks:My son is 5, and he is autistic, and the typical autistic child has a very difficult time communicating verbally while often still retaining a very high non-verbal IQ. When I first noticed my son was recognizing sight words and attempting to read, I picked up a first reader book from Barnes & noble called "Who took the cake?"--it was repetitive, simple, large print, and in my opinion kind of dull, but that was not my son's opinion. He LOVED that book and was so happy that he could just pick it up and read it right away. More importantly he could read it confidently, OUT LOUD, and so we read that book every night at bed time for about 4 weeks in a row.During the holidays my son got the usual standards: toys, video games, etc, all of which he was pretty so-so about until he ripped open his Dogshark readers red set. He ran to the kitchen table and dumped out all the books, reading them voraciously like some sci-fi fan boy getting his dose of Anime mags. He read book after book after book with very little assistance from us, and ever since that time he has been reading every single book, every single night at bedtime.Since December is just holiday after holiday after holiday, we didn't have any appointments with either the occupational therapist or the speech therapist until January. Neither one of them could believe the incredible amount of progress my son has made with his speech in such a short period of time and I am absolutely convinced that progress was made due to this series of books. The confidence they give him, the simple, relatable, child-like sentence structure and fun stories have allowed him to understand and transfer what's going on in the books to situations in real life.I don't know that EVERY parent or child would have the same experience, but these books have been a huge hit with my son's special needs preschool class. It makes my son very proud to be reading to his classmates when there are younger children in the group that can TALK circles around him. We are definitely getting the blue set next!

Love LOVE LOVE these books! My daughter (2 1/2) has learned, truly, to read the word OTTO- there is a book in this set dedicated to teaching how to read that name ("Otto and the Missing O"), and it's brilliant- the crucial first step in reading- understanding that LETTERS MAKE SOUNDS AND FORM WORDS. She gets it! I'm amazed.My daughter loves these funny, simple stories and has, in fact, memorized them. So she "reads" them along with me. The books are excellent for a preschooler- or even younger children (under 2) because they're simple enough, yet they help teach basic concepts like colors and counting. The Dogsharks themselves (you guessed it, half dog, half shark) are really cute and funny and kinda mischievious, and she can read their adventures over and over without ever getting bored.This set of books is wonderful- SO much more colorful and entertaining than See Dick Run.This is one of the best educational purchases I've made for my daughter. I HIGHLY recommend this set.

My daughter (now 6, we got them when she 5 and just starting to read) loves these quirky, delightful books. She enjoyed Bob's books, but soon tired of them and it was difficult to get her to practice. She thoroughly enjoys these and will read them over and over again. They are basic and offer picture hints, yet include some blends to make it enough of a challenge for her. I would definitely suggest this set.

Yes, they are strange, these floating dogsharks. But they're also charming, obviously created by an author/illustrator who knows what kids like, and great practice for new readers. My son gets a big kick out of reading them to me at bedtime. The vocabulary and stories are accessible to their audience without being trite or too simplistic. Our favorite is Buck, with his mysterious, disappearing donuts.Any book that makes a small child want to read is good in our book.