About the Books
Sammie and Susie Visit the Seaside is the first in a set of seven groups of six phonics-focused story books, uses a fun narrative and a cast of delightful characters to introduce readers to the /s/ sound and the words that contain that sound.
The two love to visit Auntie Sarah and Uncle Steven at the seaside. While there, they discover many interesting things and do many fun activities.
Their story makes for an engaging and stimulating way of using the sounds of single and combined letters of the alphabet to enable effective literacy teaching and learning.
Anthony Comes to the Rescue portrays a kind and helpful ambulance man who makes a sick girl happy. Set in an English town called Andover, ambulance man Anthony distracts the young Alice from the distress of her asthma attack. He takes her for a ride in his ambulance and brings Alice to her friend’s house for tea.
Aside from a very engaging story, Anthony Comes to the Rescue highlights and emboldens the second phonics sound- the short ‘a’ sound (/a/). Parents can read this exciting book to their children, pointing out the /a/ sound to their small kids. “Anthony Comes to the Rescue” is the second in a set of seven groups of six books focusing on the phonics process.
Titan the Time-Travelling Tiger is the third in a set of seven groups of six books that focus on the phonics process. The book uses an engaging story and pictures about a tiger called Titan who has the extraordinary ability to travel through time by simply touching his toes and twitching his tail. “The book,” says Eveleigh, “highlights and emboldens the third phonics sound that children learn i.e. the short t sound /t/, throughout the story, and has a long life because parents can read it to their children just as any story or picture book; read it with them pointing out the /t/ sound as their children gain an interest in learning; and the children can read it alone to consolidate and practice what they are taught at school.”
Idris, an invisible Irish imp is on a quest to find a cure for her constant burping. She decides to travel the world looking for a cure, but because she is invisible, people who hear her blame each other. She eventually gives up and returns home to Ireland, but does she find a cure for her burping?
“While small children are engaged in and enjoying this story, they will not only absorb one of life’s lessons (take control of your situation and try to improve it), but primarily, they will learn to recognize and practice the phonics sounds that they need in order to learn to read,” Eveleigh points out.
Idris, the Invisible Imp is the fourth in a set of seven groups of six books that focus on the phonics process. Eveleigh hopes readers will enjoy her books and learn in an unpressured way that can involve parents with their children and school teachers with their pupils.
In the fifth book of this series none of the pink pigs in Farmer Pickles’s field want to play with Penelope the Purple Pig. This is because Penelope is different from other pigs. Penelope is sad and lonely. As a result, she goes looking for a pal to play with among Farmer Pickles’s other animals. Will Penelope find an animal who wants to be her pal? Will she end up lonely forever?
Neville and his neighbour Nathan are friendly fairy-tale creatures called Nibalongs. Nibalongs sleep all day and wake up at night. But Neville and Nathan are scared of the night, so they make a plan to wake up when it is light. But will daytime be all that they hope for?
Jack is a happy little boy. He has a lovely family that gives Jack lots of attention. Jack’s brother and sister play games with Jack and make him laugh. Jack’s Mummy and Daddy spend time teaching Jack and playing with him. There is just one problem. Jack has temper tantrums. This is a big problem because it makes life difficult for everyone. Can Jack change?
Jack’s Temper Tantrums is the seventh book in this series – the first Group 2 book – and focuses on the /ck/ sound.
The eighth book in the series features Edmund, a very excitable elephant with lots of energy, exercises constantly. This makes all the other elephants very edgy because they are in danger of getting accidently hurt by Edmund. The situation needs to be resolved if all the elephants are ever going to feel safe and happy. What can be done?
Harriet is a very happy hippo. Harriet’s happy nature usually ‘rubs off’ on everyone around her. Harriet is on holiday in Hawaii. She loves to do lots of holiday activities. The other guests seem to be put off by little problems they may encounter. Will Harriet’s happy nature make a difference? Harriet the Happy Hippo is number 9 in the series and focuses on the /h/ sound.
In book number 10 of the series, which focuses on the /r/ sound, Rory the Rabbit goes missing from his burrow and is assumed by his family to have run away. His dad, Roger, searches for Rory in all his favourite places but is unable to find him. What has happened to Rory? Will he be found?
Maximus loves marmalade, so when he discovers that he has very few jars left in his larder, he tries to buy more. Maximus discovers that there is a world shortage of marmalade. He tries eating other foods but realises that marmalade means more to him than anything. So Maximus decides to travel to the mountains to search for marmalade. Will he be successful? Read this Eleventh book in the series focussing on the /m/ sound, to find out.
Dilys, the dinosaur, is born without teeth. As a result, she dribbles a lot. Because of this, she is not invited to play games with the other young dinosaurs. Dilys feels very sad and lonely. Will her mummy and daddy dinosaurs find a way to solve Dilys’ problem so that she can become a happy little dinosaur again? Book 12 will answer this question whilst focussing on the /d/ sound.
Grace’s great-grandma used to enjoy her garden and kept it looking gorgeous. Now in her nineties, Great-Grandma can no longer do gardening, and when Grace overhears her grumbling about this, it makes her feel sad. So Grace makes a plan. She joins a gardening group at school so that when she becomes a good gardener, she can make sure that Great-Grandma’s garden gets a makeover. This book focuses on the /g/ sound, which is the thirteenth book in this phonics series and goes on to discover if Grace’s plan is successful.
Number fourteen in this series of phonics-focussed story books highlights the /o/ sound as it tells the story of Ottima, the small daughter of an African farmer, finds a baby ostrich abandoned by its mother. She names him Oscar, but despite all Ottima’s efforts to care for Oscar, he stubbornly refuses to eat. Eventually Ottima goes online to identify a zoo with a mother ostrich that can adopt Oscar. After a long journey to Oxford in England, Oscar is adopted by a female ostrich Olive, and he happily begins to eat again.
Book number fifteen teaches children the /u/ sound. Ulrika and Unwin never put their toys away when they’ve finished playing with them. They hide them under the bed or pile them up on the floor. Their cousin, Umber, comes to stay and ends up tripping over some toys and bumping her head. The twins are very shocked at this but learn that toys left around not only look untidy but can be dangerous as well. After that, they never leave their toys around again.