Books Divided Into Syllables

Students in the 1700's and early 1800's taught with a syllabary and a speller such as Webster's Blue-Backed Speller usually could read well enough after completing the Speller to read anything--in fact, their first text was usually the King James Version of the Bible. However, sometimes they followed their reading and spelling lessons in the speller with a reader with words divided into syllables to help decoding and pronunciation. Parker's First Reader is an example of a reader that was divided up into syllables this way. In the late 1800's, there were several stand-alone books published this way. Most had in their title the words "In Words of One Syllable."

These books are helpful for both beginning and remedial reading students. You can order reprints of Josephine Pollard's one-syllable books "The Life of Washington" and "The History of the United States" from Amazon.

Here are some one-syllable books you can print out for free from Google books. (After you download the file, you can print them out.) One of the best is "Lives of the Presidents," it is informative, and you can print out one or two Presidents at a time.

Our Hero, General U.S. Grant by Josephine Pollard

‪Our Naval Heroes: in Words of Easy Syllables‬ by Josephine Pollard

The Life of Abraham Lincoln for Young People by Harriet Putnam

Lives of the Presidents in Words of One Syllable by Harriet Putnam

History of England in Words of One Syllable by Helen Pierson

History of France inWords of One Syllable by Helen Pierson

History of Germany in Words of One Syllable by Helen Pierson

History of Russia in Words of One Syllable by Helen Ainslie Smith

History of New York in Words of One Syllable by Heannette H. Walworth

Ruth, a Bible Heroine and Other Stories Told in the Language of Children by Josephine Pollard

Here are two readers that start out with divided syllables and then transition into regular text as the students figure out syllable division as they learn and mature:

Abbott's First Reader by Jacobb and John Abbott

Tropical Reading Books by Eliza Caroline Philips