Yes, you can find instructions on how to do this here.

Please email your wish list to schools@phonicbooks.com.

You would have received an email with your tracking details following the placement of your order, if not please get in touch with info@phonicbooks.com with your order number and we will get back to you.

Please email info@phonicbooks.com to receive a digital sampler.

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

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

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

You can cancel your order prior to despatch, please email info@phonicbooks.com with your order number. 

Yes, we can change the address as long as your order hasn’t been despatched. Please email info@phonicbooks.com with your order number and we will get back to you. 

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.

Yes, ebooks of certain Phonic Books series are available wherever you buy your ebooks.

Yes, please email info@phonicbooks.com with your order number and we will email the VAT receipt to you. 

If your order is over £1000 we can offer a discount. Please email info@phonicbooks.com with your order details and we will get back to you. 

You can’t photocopy our reading books as this would contravene copyright. 

However our activity books are photocopiable.

You can use the diagnostic assessments on our website or in the teacher guides to ascertain which series to start with.

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

Each book within a series needs 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.

You can see the phonics progression of the books here.

Our Dandelion range is suitable for use with children aged 4-7 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, struggling readers aged 8-14+.

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

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.

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.

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.

Dandelion Launchers and Dandelion World 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. Dandelion Launchers is a fiction book set and Dandelion World is a non-fiction book set.

Dandelion Readers can be used as additional reading material for young readers or for younger catch-up readers. Dandelion Readers 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.

Yes, Dandelion World is a series of non-fiction decodable books.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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 ‘synthesise’ the sounds together into a word.

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

Decodable books are 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.

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.

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 and Dandelion World 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.

In general, our books can be used with ANY phonics programme a school is using. Every programme 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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