TOS Crew Review - BrillKids Aesop's Fables Volume 1

BrillKids is not a new company to my blog - in fact, I reviewed their Little Readers program a few month ago. This review is for their Little Reader Storybook Series, Aesop's Fables, Volume 1. These books are simplified and illustrated versions of the traditional Aesop's Fables, and the book formats are "specially designed to give your child all the fun of storybook time, while also teaching your child to read".

Currently sale priced at $37.50 (reduced from $50!), the series comes with 5 familiar titles, including:

• The Boy Who Cried Wolf
• The Turtle and the Rabbit
• The Fox and the Grapes
• The Lion and the Mouse
• The Fox and the Crow

The layout of the books, as I mentioned above, is quite unique. Instead of combining text and illustrations, the text (which is large and well spaced to help little eyes see each word more clearly) is on one side of the page, while the illustration is on the other. The book includes a flap, which is designed to cover the illustration while the text is being read. After the text is read, the flap is lifted to reveal the illustration.

The concept behind this design is to draw a child's attention to the written text instead of allowing them to be distracted by the illustration. The theory is that the child will better be able to begin understanding the mechanics of reading, as well as recognizing words, because they won't be looking at the illustrations for clues.

I found the concept behind this method intriguing. The children enjoyed using the flap - to them, it was just like a simplified "lift the flap" book, and they enjoyed being the one to be able to reveal the picture when it was their turn (yes, we had to take turns!).

However, from my personal experience, both with the product and as a mom who has taught 3 children to read so far (not that I am expert by any means, I'm just speaking, as I said, from my personal experience), I didn't see that this creative layout would enhance reading instruction. Many of the words in the stories were big words - not even common "sight" words, but words like "probably", "frustrated", "confident", "laughing", and so on - so for beginner readers, the sheer size of the words could be intimidating, and for non-readers, there is no simple way for them to learn HOW to actually read - only try to remember the words by sight alone. Which works wonderfully for that specific word, but not for the entire reading process in general. I prefer a more methodical approach that teaches the mechanics of how to decipher words rather than just route memorization of random words. Route memorization, in the long run, does not work and leaves the reading process incomplete.

I also happen to be of the belief that illustrations help make a story come alive to a child and are important, if not essential, in a storybook. I feel that being able to look at the illustrations while a story is being read actually enhances the learning to read process, rather than hindering it by causing distractions. Studying the pictures, talking about the story in relation to the pictures, and even having a child remember the words to the story because the pictures trigger the memory of what was read, are all a huge part of reading to toddlers and preschoolers, and really help a LOVE for reading develop - and once that love is there, the desire to learn how to read naturally follows. Limiting the viewing of pictures, I think, does more to diminish the love and desire than to help it. Again, I am not a reading expert - I am just stating what I believe from my own experiences.

Also, while this is more of a personal critique of the books, there were some small things that, well, for lack of a better word... bothered me. For example, in the book "The Fox and the Grapes", the fox sees the grapes and thinks to himself "They'll make lovely wine, I'll have them for lunch!" While we are not strict abstainers from alcohol in our house, consumption of it is rare and far between, and I certainly don't want a preschooler's book suggesting that making wine to consume at lunch time is a fine and good thing!

Another issue I had with that story in particular is that the moral was never mentioned. The fox goes away from the grapes with a bad attitude, and there is no moral explaining why that attitude is wrong... which could be taken by a child to believe that a "sour grapes" attitude is perfectly fine, since the story ended that way. Yes, these examples give us opportunities to discuss the issues more in-depth, but for something that's supposed to just be a simple, fun "learn-to-read" story for young children, to me, it overstepped it's bounds a little.

Overall, here's my thoughts. Are they cute storybooks? Yes. Does the flap make reading more interesting? For a while - as I mentioned, my children liked trying to guess what might be underneath, but that got a little old to them after a few read-throughs. Will they teach your child to read? Perhaps, but I have my doubts. We only had the product for a few weeks before writing this review, so maybe over a longer period of time, I would have noticed a change in reading skills in my beginning and pre-readers.

I hate to write a negative review without reminding readers that what didn't work in my homeschooling might actually work wonders in yours! So please do not take my review and write off BrillKid's Aesop's Fables Volume 1 Series completely. Be sure to check out other reviews by going to the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog - I'm sure you'll come across a variety of opinions!

Disclaimer: I was given this product specifically for the purpose of reviewing here on my blog as a member of TOS Homeschool Crew. I received no other compensation in regards to this review.