Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs for ordering books

Can I place an order using a purchase order/pay by invoice?

Yes, if you are ordering for a US school or district, or if you would like to speak to a K12 sales representative about which Phonic Books will best suit your needs, please contact K12education@penguinrandomhouse.com. Alternatively, you can order from one of our U.S. distributors listed here.

How can I get a quote?

Please fill out this form indicating your wish list of titles and email it to K12education@penguinrandomhouse.com.

Where is my order?

You should have received an email with your tracking details following the placement of your order. If not, please get in touch with K12education@penguinrandomhouse.com with your order number and we will get back to you.

Can I have some sample books?

Yes, please email info@phonicbooks.com for sample materials.

I have only received part of my order. When will I get the rest?

Please email customerservice@penguinrandomhouse.com with your order number and we will get back to you.

How do I make a return?

Please email customerservice@penguinrandomhouse.com and we will send you instructions.

Do you process exchanges?

No, we don’t exchange goods, but you can return your order if it is in resaleable / brand-new condition.

How do I cancel my order?

You can cancel your order prior to dispatch. Please email customerservice@penguinrandomhouse.com with your order number.

I’ve put the incorrect delivery address in my order. Can this be changed?

Yes, we can change the delivery address as long as the order has not yet been dispatched. Please email customerservice@penguinrandomhouse.com with your order number for assistance.

Do you sell single book replacements?

No, this offering is not available. For books that are part of a pack, the entire pack would have to be re-purchased in order to obtain the lost title.

Do you sell ebook copies?

Ebooks are available for a selection of Phonic Book titles on Amazon, Apple, Google, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Hoopla, O’Reilly, Mackin, Actively Learn, ebooks.com, Baker & Taylor, OverDrive, Bibliotheca and Vitalsource.

FAQs on phonics

Why teach children to read using phonics?

Written languages are codes of symbols which represent spoken language. In the English Phonic Code, the symbols (letters) represent units of single sounds.
Teaching reading with phonics unlocks the code to beginner readers. Teaching reading without phonics is like teaching children a secret code without the key to decode it. Some children are natural code-breakers but many are not.

What is different about Synthetic Phonics?

Synthetic phonics differs from traditional phonics. In the past children were taught to break up words like ‘cat’ into ‘c’ and ‘at’. The word would be taught as part of the ‘at’ word list.

Synthetic phonics teaches children to identify each sound in the word separately and then blend or ‘synthesize’ the sounds together into a word.

Children are taught to blend and segment each sound in the word.

What is blending and segmenting?

Blending is pushing the sounds together into a word. E.g.: ‘c’ ‘a’ ‘t’ ‘cat’. This is an underlying skill for reading.

Segmenting is isolating the sounds in a word. E.g.: ‘c’ ‘a’ ‘t’ are the sounds in the word ‘cat’. This is an underlying skill for reading and spelling.

What are decodable books?

Decodable books have texts which the pupil can read using the phonics they have already been taught. The text is controlled to enable the reader to read independently at every stage. All Phonic Books titles are decodable.

What is the purpose of a decodable book?

Decodable books help children to:

  • Practice and apply letter-sound relationship knowledge taught to date through a meaningful, continuous text
  • Build fluency and reading stamina
  • Build comprehension
  • Build confidence and enjoyment in reading

Decoable books develop reliable and successful strategies for tackling new words, blending sounds into words rather than trying to guess the words and builds the reader’s confidence.

What are the Initial and Extended Phonic Codes?

The English Phonic Code is complex. Beginner readers start with the simple part: the Initial Phonic Code. This includes the sounds of the alphabet within CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant), adjacent consonants in 4 and 5 sound words (e.g. ‘land’, ‘from’, ‘blend’) and the consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th, ck, ng and qu). The Initial Phonic Code is taught in Units 1-15 in the Dandelion Launchers Series and in Units 1-20 in the Dandelion Readers Series.

The Extended Phonic Code includes the vowel and consonant sounds which are represented by alternative spellings. E.g.: ai, ay, a, ea, a-e etc. all spell the sound ‘ae’. In our books, the Extended Phonic Code is taught in Levels 1, 2, 3 & 4 and the Split Vowel Spelling Books in the Dandelion Readers Series and for older readers in the Alba, Totem, Rescue, Titan, Talisman 1 & Talisman 2 Series.

Which phonic program do your books align with?

In general, our books can be used with any structured literacy program. Every program introduces the sounds in a slightly different order, our books follow the Sounds-Write Reading and Spelling program. Each of our books lists what the student needs to know before reading.

If the order of the introduction of sounds is different, delay the reading by a few weeks until the student has covered the sounds. To check the phonic progression, see the back of the books or see our ‘Phonic Progression Chart‘.

FAQs for teachers

How do I choose decodable books for my class?

The target phoneme and the decodable book must match up, so that children are never caught out and can always sound out and blend the words in the book.

What books should my students start with?

Get in touch with us at K12education@penguinrandomhouse.com for guidance, or review the Phonic Books scope and sequence here.

What should I use to assess children in order to monitor decoding skills and evaluate progress over time?

You can download our reading assessments that can be used alongside the books in our  Dandelion Launchers and Dandelion Readers series. We also have a progress monitoring chart available.

Do your books need to be read in a particular order?

Dandelion Launchers and Readers:

Our books are designed to be read in a certain order: each unit introduces a new sound starting with unit 1 which includes the letters s, a, t, i, m. Books in unit 2 introduce more letters (n, o, p) and also reinforce the sounds learned in unit 1. This gradual introduction of sounds continues throughout the books and by the time children have reached unit 7, they should be able to read CVC words using any combination of these letters. However, you can mix and match units so children can be given any unit 1 books in the Dandelion Launchers and any unit 1 book in the Dandelion Readers. Phonic Books can also be used with popular phonics curricula like Wilson, UFLI, Heggerty, and CKLA.

Catch-up readers and Dragon Books:

These book series need to be read in the correct order, they are designed as story books with each book within a set forming a chapter in the overall story.

Which order should the books be read in?

You can refer to this chart to establish the progression of our books.

For what age group are the books suitable?

Our Dandelion Launchers range are suitable for use with children age 3-5 to introduce the sounds of the alphabet at CVC word level, progressing to adjacent consonants and consonant digraphs.

All of our Catch-up Series are suitable for older, reluctant readers aged 8-14 +.

Can you use Phonic Books for my SEND children or in special schools?

Yes, all our books are suitable for children of all ages who are struggling with their reading.

My child/student has finished the Phonic Books book but is still struggling, what should I do?

We recommend buying the activity books which offer a mixture of blending, segmenting, reading, spelling, comprehension tasks and much more. These activity books are linked to the reading books and help reinforce learning.

Do you sell non-fiction books?

Yes, see Dandelion World 

Are Phonic Books suitable for whole class teaching?

Yes, the carefully planned phonic structure of the books fully supports a phonics first approach to reading. The books can be used for individual or group reading.

How many books should I buy for my class?

This depends on how your school is going to use the books. In order to work out the optimum number, you will need to decide the following:

  1. Are they for whole class use or group use?
  2. For group use: How many students in a group? Six? Eight?
  3. Are the books to be used for intervention?  How many sets does this setting require?
  4. Does the school plan to prepare book bags? If so, you will need a copy for each child.
  5. Are classes sharing the books?

*Note that only one activity book per instructor is necessary, as these are photocopiable.

How do Dandelion Launchers fit with Dandelion Readers?

Dandelion Launchers are for beginner readers or young readers who need lots of practice at the early stages of reading. For this reason there is just one line of text on each page and there are four books are each level.

Dandelion Readers can be used as additional reading material for young readers or for younger catch-up readers. There are three parallel sets available. Our Dandelion Readers range progresses at a faster pace than our Dandelion Launcher range. From Unit 3 there is more text on each page – two or more lines. As the phonic progression and level (unit) structure is the same, you can use both series together by splitting them up according to units.

Do you sell nonfiction books?

Yes, Dandelion World is a series of nonfiction decodable books.

Who are the workbooks for?

Workbooks complement our books. They are photocopiable programmes of work for pupils who need further practice in blending, segmenting, spelling and reading comprehension. They can be used in mainstream class settings, for group work or individual tuition.

How do I use the workbooks?

The workbooks are linked to the stories in the books making the activities relevant and contextual. Some activities should be introduced before reading the books and others, such as comprehension, should be introduced after reading the books.

A short explanation on each page explains when and how to introduce the activity.

How can I monitor my child’s/student’s decoding skills and evaluate progress over time to identify areas where further help may be needed?

You can download our reading assessments that can be used alongside the books in our

Dandelion Launchers and Dandelion Readers series.

We also have a progress monitoring chart available.

Do our books need to be read in a particular order?

Dandelion Launchers and Readers:

Our books are designed to be read in a certain order: Each unit introduces a new sound, starting with unit 1 which includes the letters s, a, t, i, m. Books in unit 2 introduce more letters (n, o, p) and also reinforce the sounds learned in unit 1. This gradual introduction of sounds continues throughout the books, and, by the time children have reached unit 7, they should be able to read CVC words using any combination of these letters. However, you can mix and match units, so children can be given any unit 1 book in the Dandelion Launchers and any unit 1 book in the Dandelion Readers. Phonic Books can also be used with popular phonics curricula like Wilson, UFLI, Heggerty, and CKLA as outlined here.

Catch-up readers and Dragon Books:

These book series need to be read in the correct order. In addition to being designed as storybooks, with each book within a set forming a chapter in the overall narrative, the phonics skills covered in the books are also cumulative.

Which order should the books be read in?

You can refer to this chart to establish the progression of our books.

For which age groups are the books suitable?

Dandelion Launchers are suitable for children beginning to learn how to read. They should be used in kindergarten.

Dandelion Readers are suitable for grades 1 and 2, depending on the progress of the pupil.

All of our Catch-Up series are suitable for older, striving readers ages 8–14+.

What are high-frequency words?

While learning to read, children soon encounter common words used to construct simple sentences. Some are decodable; other common words have complex spellings which the child may not be able to decode at this early stage of reading. These words are referred to as “phonically-irregular high frequency words” or “heart words” and are introduced gradually into the texts. You can find the list of words here.
Written languages are codes of symbols which represent spoken language. In some scripts, the symbols may represent parts of the word. In the English Phonic Code, the symbols (letters) represent units of single sounds.

Teaching reading with phonics unlocks the code to beginner readers. Teaching reading without phonics is like teaching children a secret code without the key to decode it.

Some children are natural code-breakers, but many are not.

What is different about Synthetic Phonics?

Synthetic phonics differs from traditional phonics. In the past children were taught to break up words like ‘cat’ into ‘c’ and ‘at’. The word would be taught as part of the ‘at’ word list.

Synthetic phonics teaches children to identify each sound in the word separately and then blend or ‘synthesize’ the sounds together into a word.

Children are taught to blend and segment each sound in the word.

What is blending and segmenting?

Blending is pushing the sounds together into a word, for example, ‘c’ ‘a’ ‘t’ – ‘cat’. This is an underlying skill for reading.

Segmenting is isolating the sounds in a word, for example, ‘c’ ‘a’ ‘t’ are the sounds in the word ‘cat’. This is an underlying skill for reading and spelling.

Our books are decodable. What are decodable books?

Decodable books have texts which the student can read, using the phonics they have already been taught. The text is controlled to enable the reader to read independently at every stage.

This develops reliable and successful strategies for tackling new words: blending sounds into words rather than trying to guess the words. It also builds the reader’s confidence, as he/she will experience success while using the method taught in the classroom.

What are the Initial and Extended Phonic Codes?

The English Phonic Code is complex. Beginner readers start with the simple part: the Initial Phonic Code. This includes the sounds of the alphabet within CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant), adjacent consonants in 4 and 5 sound words (e.g. ‘land’, ‘from’, ‘blend’) and the consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th, ck, ng and qu). The Initial Phonic Code is taught in Units 1-15 in the Dandelion Launchers Series for younger children and the Moon Dogs  Series Set 1 and 2, Magic Belt and That Dog! for older, struggling readers.

The Extended Phonic Code includes the vowel and consonant sounds which are represented by alternative spellings. For example, ai, ay, a, ea, a-e all spell the sound ‘ae’. The Extended Phonic Code is taught in our books for older readers in the Moon Dogs Vowel Spelling Series, Alba, Totem, Rescue, Island Adventure, Titan’s Gauntlets, Talisman 1 and Talisman 2 Series.

How do the books fit in with the phonics program in my school?

In general, our books can be used with ANY phonics program a school is using. Every program introduces the sounds in a slightly different order. Our books follow the Sounds-Write® Reading and Spelling program. Each of our books lists what the student needs to know before reading.

If the order of the introduction of sounds is different, delay the reading the book until the student has covered all of the sounds. To check the phonic progression of the series, please visit the specific product page or alternatively it is listed on the back of our books.

Catch-up Series (age 8+)

The Moon Dog Series are an ideal resource for older, beginner readers or those children who need to go back to the absolute basics of being taught in a systematic way.

The Magic Belt and That Dog Series are aimed at readers at CVC level.

Totem and Alba Series are for readers with gaps in their phonic knowledge. The series starts at CVC word level and quickly revises and consolidates the essential phonics that a catch-up reader needs to secure. It includes adjacent consonants, consonant digraphs and some alternative spellings for vowel sounds.

Talisman Series 1 continues from the Totem Series with further alternative spellings for vowel and consonant sounds and suffixes, e.g. ‘tion’.

The Rescue and Island Adventure Series are parallel to and cover the same phonic progression as Talisman 1.

The Titan’s Gauntlets Series introduces alternative vowel and consonant spellings and common Latin suffixes.

The Talisman 2 Series includes more additional alternative spellings and more text per page.

For what age group are the books suitable?

Our Dandelion Launchers range are suitable for use with children age 3-5 to introduce the sounds of the alphabet at CVC word level, progressing to adjacent consonants and consonant digraphs.

All of our Catch-up Series are suitable for older, reluctant readers aged 8-14 +.

Who are the workbooks for?

Our workbooks complement our reading books. They are photocopiable programs of work for students who need further practice in blending, segmenting, spelling and reading comprehension. They can be used in mainstream class settings, for group work or individual tuition.  Other activities are directly linked to the reading books and designed to develop reading fluency, comprehension, spelling, writing and vocabulary.

How do I use the workbooks?

Many of the activities in the workbooks are linked to the stories in the books, making the activities relevant and contextual. Some activities should be introduced before reading the books and others, such as comprehension, should be introduced after reading the books.

A short explanation on each page explains when and how to introduce the activity.