Recommended Resources for children with Reading Difficulties such as Dyslexia

By Georgina Durrant on March 28, 2021 • ( 3 Comments )

It’s a bit of a minefield trying to find suitable resources for children with reading difficulties, such as dyslexia. Not because there’s not enough resources out there, but perhaps because there are too many! And they all claim to be able to help your child to read. Therefore, I wanted to create a post on resources that would recommend for children with reading difficulties such as dyslexia, to help you navigate this minefield.

This blog post isn’t completed, my plan is to add to this post as and when I find new resources too. I’ve been inundated on twitter with lots of wonderful suggestions of books too- so once I’ve tried some of those out, I’ll be adding the best ones on here as well (so bookmark this page and pop back soon to check!) And if you’re thinking ‘she’s not included …..’ then drop me and email and tell me some books you think I should include.

If you’re looking for advice on how to ignite a love of reading for children with reading difficulties, such as dyslexia – watch my webinar here.

Books for children:

Tales from the Pitch – I love these books, they are wonderful for persuading reluctant readers to have a go at reading. Written by Harry Coninx, a 23 year old football fanatic and amateur player, these books (each about a separate famous football) are accessible, interesting and exciting and definitely worthy of a place on your bookshelves! Read our full review of this series here.

Emiline knight in Training – This book is just gorgeous! It has magic, unicorns, griffins and a story of learning to read! It’s also a graphic novel with lots of pictures and dyslexia friendly font!

How to Train Your Parents – Suitable for children with a reading age of 9-11 this funny and engaging book is wonderful! It also has larger font and less words on the page, helping to make it a bit easier for some children.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them (Dyslexia Edition) – A few popular books now do ‘dyslexia editions’ too and this version of the JK Rowling Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has a dyslexia friendly font, larger font size, tinted paper and lots of illustrations, helping to make it more accessible for dyslexic children.

Dog Man : Brawl of the Wild – One book from the hilarious series of ‘Dog Man’ books by Day Pilkey. What makes these books great for children with reading difficulties is they are designed like a comic strip, with less text to read and plenty of pictures. They are also short reads and brilliantly engaging.

Beetle & the Hollowbones – Another brilliant graphic novel style book. This enchanting story is not only engaging for young readers but it is also accessible with plenty of visuals and short, snappy text.

The Dog That Saved the World (Cup)– Barrington Stoke publishers are fantastic for dyslexia friendly books and this one is no exception. Not only is it a great story but it has a dyslexia friendly font, layout and paper stock to make sure children with reading difficulties can enjoy it. Its suitable for a reading age of 8+.

The Girl With Her Head in the Clouds– Another fantastic book from Barrington Stoke, this book is suitable for children with a reading age of 8+ but interest age 8-12. It’s exciting, funny and adventurous! It also has the dyslexia friendly font, layout, paper etc.

The Unlucky 11– This book is so funny and great for years 1,2 and 3 at primary school who like football. It is suitable for children with a reading age of 4 years but is interesting for children aged 5-8. As with the other books, it has a dyslexia friendly font, layout and paper stock. It also has short snappy paragraphs.

Billie B Brown Early Readers – These books are fantastic. They have short paragraphs, lots of pictures and engaging stories. They are great for children who want to be seen to be reading chapter books, but are still finding reading chapter books difficult.

Games for children:

Sight Word Bingo – It’s so important to make learning to read fun, especially if a child is finding it difficult. We love this game for play based learning and giggles!

Match and Spell Board Game a another fabulous game for reading and spelling. This one can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Books about dyslexia for adults and some for adults to read to children.

My second book ‘How to Boost Reading and Writing Through Play’ is ideal for supporting children with dyslexia to develop their reading and writing skills in a playful, multi sensory and relaxed way. Not only does it have play based activities you can try but it also has advice on common barriers to literacy, how to support children with them and everyday ‘hacks’ of how to develop literacy skills in everyday life.

The Bigger Picture Book of Amazing Dyslexics and the Jobs they Do – it’s so important for children to ‘see’ themselves in books and to realise their potential by being inspired by others. This book does exactly that and it’s brilliant as very visual with very little text.

Dyslexia is My Superpower (Most of the Time) I love this empowering book about dyslexia and would highly recommend it as one to read yourself and then again with your child!

Can I tell you about Dyslexia? This series of books is brilliant and this one about dyslexia is ideal for sharing with new teachers, family and friends to help them understand dyslexia.

Mission Dyslexia: Find Your Superpower and be your Brilliant Self – my copy of this book is currently winging its way to my house! But I’ve heard wonderful things about this book and as soon as I’ve read it, I’ll update this post to tell you more.

Fish in a tree– A wonderful and empowering book about a girl who has moved schools many times and has managed (so far) to avoid people realising that she can’t read. That is until now. Thankfully, she gains a wonderful new teacher who explains to her that she’s not ‘stupid’ but she has dyslexia and that is why she finds reading difficult.Read our full review here