Review: Read with Biff, Chip & Kipper Books

Review of these re-released titles from Oxford University Press

The Read with Biff, Chip & Kipper set of books from Oxford University Press should probably be listed as a ‘must buy’ for parents who have little ones embarking on their big adventure to school for the first time.

With six difficulty levels, the books are written to help parents support their children at home as they learn to read at school. The books are based on the teaching methods that are currently used to teach reading. Not only are they aligned in terms of methodology, but the continuity of the characters also helps children when they go to school for the first time by providing something familiar in a new and strange environment. As the vast majority of schools (80%) use the Oxford Reading Tree books in the classroom, the characters Biff, Chip and Kipper will most likely accompany your child all the way along their journey through primary school.

Each difficulty level of the Read with Biff, Chip & Kipper series contains eight books, broken down into two types – the Phonics books and the First Stories books.

The First Stories books provide fun, interesting and humourous stories that are perfectly tailored to each reading level. They are excellent for children to practice their reading skills whilst enjoying the stories that unfold – the perfect way for them to develop their love of reading. Each Story book has a set of questions at the end to help with reading comprehension and some games to make the story more interactive and fun.

The Phonics books are written to enable your child to practise the different letter sounds that they are learning in school. From the simple ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘d’ sounds to the trickier ‘zz’ or ‘sh’ sounds, there is a book that you can pull out at home to help your child to build their confidence. Each book has some examples at the beginning of the sounds that are featured in the book, which is helpful for both the parent and child as it makes it very clear what the learning objective of the book is.

The books themselves are fairly small, making them perfect for little hands, and they are hard back, with glossy, wipe-clean covers. With 20 – 30 pages in each book, they are not too long for a child to read without getting bored and gives them a healthy sense of achievement at the end. The illustrations in the books are bright, vibrant and fun, with plenty going on to hold everyone’s attention. They also have tips for parents in the front on reading together which are helpful – as well as games to play on each page, such as ‘spot the difference’ or ‘find the ladybird’.

Our eldest daughter (nearly 4 years) really enjoyed the stories, and wanted to read them with us again and again, so they definitely work at keeping a child’s interest, whilst also teaching them to read. The perfect combination!

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