10 Ways The DaVinchy Series Brings Reading Help To Your Chapter Book Reader

The DaVinchy Chapter Book Series are genuine stepping stones into a love of reading. But there’s more to the books than meets the eye. Here’s the ways we wove the reading help right into the “fabric” of the books After reading these books your child will be ready to graduate to more difficult books. Here’s a look at why.

The 5 secret ways our books help your child to love reading.

1. Kids love action, so we give ‘em action. Disney and all the kid’s movie makers get this simple fact. But to many book publishers, the fact that kids love action is a well-kept secret. Not to us. The biggest compliment we ever got was from a fourth grader who said that it was like watching a movie while reading a book. The DaVinchy Series is the antidote for “boring books.”
2. Big kids don’t want to read “baby books”…but love to read e-books. Older kids sometimes don’t want to read books with pictures because they are “for babies.” This was tricky to overcome as we know the benefits of using color pictures. So we created them as cool ebooks with flip-page technology that they can read on their computers. Now they get to feel like they’re doing something cool, like playing a video game, when in fact they are reading!
3. Pictures match the words to give reading clues and make learning fun. Carefully matching pictures gives your child reading clues which help them decipher the word. It’s like having Mom or Dad help them read – but they get the satisfaction of doing it themselves.
4. Pictures kick start the important “envisioning” part of your child’s reading brain  Having pictures in books that kids read gets the “movie of the book” going in their heads.. You may not realize it, but we all “picture” what we read in our minds while reading. In fact, you can’t read – at least not well – without this skill. If your child can “decode” or pronounce words but still doesn’t get the meaning of what’s being read, …this is a big clue that this “envisioning” skill is not developing. Be aware that different people can develop this skill quickly – and other people always seem to need help envisioning what they are reading. The magazine industry exists for exactly this reason. If you consider how easy it is to read a magazines while looking at the pictures, you will get a clue how important pictures are for most readers – and by most I mean over 60% of all people.
5. Logical phonics let kids enjoy the read. The English language is complex and full of exceptions to rules and words that simply must be memorized. What a nightmare for the kid learning to read!. We use logical words (words that read phonetically according to the rules (no exceptions) wherever possible. So in the early books of the DaVinchy Series we use almost no compound vowel blends (dipthongs) such as ae, ie, ea. Instead we use words without vowel blends or use simple vowel blends, such as oo  and ee . We also limit “sight reading” words to common words, like would, could and should, might, sight and right. While these words use non-logical silent letters, they are very common and so we add them in bit by bit. Over the course of the book series we gradually introduce more non-logical words, but those that behave by the rules, bit by bit, using pictures to give clues. I’ve had reading specialists tell me how effective this strategy has been so I know that it works for many kids.

5 Classic Tricks We Use To Keep Your Kids Reading

1. Short chapters give your kids a sense of accomplishment. When kids are just getting started reading they need lots of rewards and feel-good moments to keep their motivation high. Most early to mid level chapter books use this strategy, too.
2. Vocabulary That Builds Up Book By Book. You want your child to enjoy reading, while also growing as a reader. There is a conflict for your kids in this – as learning can be tiring and not fun when reading regular books. The magic of the DaVinchy Series chapter books is that we can introduce new words and let the pictures give clues to them – so your child won’t get frustrated. This keeps the fun high and the vocabulary building ongoing We also repeat the words with some frequency so your kids get practice with them.
3. Kids want heroes who express their hopes and dreams. DaVinchy and Milo and Jess (two boy mice and a girl mouse) are heroic characters who heroically find their way through the (symbolically represented) conflicts that kids face every day.
4. Cliff hanger endings get kids hooked on reading. This is one of those long lost secrets, These endings make kids really, really, really want to keep reading to find out what happens next. And we know that you “really, really, really” want your child to keep reading!
5. FUN FUN FUN. Quick pace. Silly lovable characters. Evil villains. Army cats. The Imperium Majesterium – a bad king!  Plus plot twists galore and unique characters proliferate taking your child into this foreign world looking over the shoulder of DaVinchy and Milo. These foreign shores have their own geography, history, and rules. This is a rich and visually stimulating way way to introduce young readers to the pleasures of fantasy.