About SoundTales
SoundTales is a decodable chapter-book ladder for early readers (ages 6–8). "Decodable" means a book only uses the letter-sounds and spelling patterns a reader has already been taught — so a child is never handed a word they have no way to read. Reading grows one careful rung at a time.
Every rung introduces one spelling pattern as a character who does its trick in every story on that rung. A reader who knows the pattern can read the book; teaching the pattern back to Dodo (who is still learning) makes it stick.
- Rung 1 — Sound by Sound. The base: blend one sound per letter (cat, pig, dog).
- Rung 2 — The Twins. 👯 Buzz the Twins: Two of the same letter at the end still make ONE sound (huff, bell, kiss, buzz).
- Rung 3 — Two Letters, One Sound. 🤝 Digraph Duo: Two letters team up to make ONE new sound (sh, ch, th, ck, ng).
- Rung 4 — Magic-E. 🪄 Silent Ellie: A silent e on the end reaches back and makes the vowel say its NAME (cap → cape, kit → kite).
- Rung 5 — Bossy R. 💪 Bossy R: When R follows a vowel it BOSSES it — the vowel gives up its sound (car, fern, bird, corn, turn).
- Rung 6 — Vowel Teams & Long Words. ⛵ Vowel-Team Captain: Two vowels sail together and the FIRST one says its name — "when two vowels go walking, the first does the talking" (rain, feet, boat, play).
Honest note for grown-ups: SoundTales is a research-informed decodable-reading practice — a careful, controlled way to read — not a promise of a specific score. Everything runs on this device; there are no accounts, no ads, and nothing a child does leaves the device.