With the 2024 Nation’s Report Card showing further declines in reading, more support for struggling readers and their educators has never been more important. And the rise of the evidence-based science of reading in recent years has made clear that a multifaceted approach works best.

“We know that struggling readers need engaging, decodable texts that build vocabulary, background knowledge, comprehension, and cultural capital as well,” says Sarah Forbes, publisher, DK Learning. “We’re trying to blend all the threads of the reading rope—that’s the science of reading—into all of our materials so educators, librarians, and children get everything they need from our books.”

These books include a new hi-lo chapter book series focused on morphology. “Within the science of reading, morphology has become really important, because it helps with spelling and comprehension,” Forbes says. “There are lots of other hi-lo chapter books that exist in the world, but ours are unique in that they have this morphology focus as well.”

Similarly, Treasure Bay Books is trying something other publishers haven’t by creating a series of on-level, high-interest books for struggling readers with in-line phonics help for non-decodable words. “Usually there’s a pronunciation guide in the glossary or occasionally somewhere else in the book,” says Treasure Bay President Don Panec. “But nobody had taken the concept and said, ‘hey, this is a great way for a kid to actually be able to read a difficult word. Why couldn’t we apply it to the entire book?’”

Let’s take a closer look at these new series for struggling readers.

DK Learning

A division of 50-year-old DK, DK Learning was launched four years ago to focus on the education sector with curriculum-aligned publishing for grades pre-K to 12. DK Learning publishes 150 titles a year that span chapter books, decodables, topic books, language-learning series, leveled readers, and educator resources.

“Our mission is to empower educators, librarians, and parents with robust, evidence-based resources,” says Publisher Sarah Forbes. “We believe every child deserves access to high-quality, engaging books that help them grow into competent readers.”

“Against the Odds” is DK Learning’s new hi-lo historical fiction chapter 6-book series focused on morphology. Designed to engage 10–14-year-olds reading below grade level, compelling stories of real-life disasters are told through the eyes of teenage survivors. “These books are a crucial bridge between decodable text and mainstream literature,” Forbes says. Advance copies have been getting positive feedback from both teachers and librarians, who say they “’pass the backpack test,’ meaning that kids wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with them,” she says.

The first two titles in the series publish in April 2025. In Against the Odds: San Francisco Earthquake 1906 by Krista Suprenant, illustrated by Robert Ball, cover by Paulo Ulises Serrano, ISBN 9780593962671, 15-year-old Chen finds himself in the middle of the deadliest earthquake in U.S. history and doesn’t know whether he’ll see his family or Chinatown again. The book’s morphology focuses on common prefixes and verb suffixes.

The second series title, Against the Odds: Animal Attacks by Mari Bolte and Mary Colgan, illustrated by Robert Ball, cover by Paulo Ulises Serrano, ISBN 9780593962732, includes three short stories about some of the world’s deadliest animal attacks—the HMS Birkenhead shark attacks of 1852, the man-eating lions of Tsavo in 1898, and the Sankebetsu brown bear incident of 1915—and how three young people beat the odds to survive them. Its morphology focus is multiple suffixes.

In August, DK Learning will publish three new library-bound editions collecting its best-selling, 10-title phonics book series into single volumes. For 8–14-year-olds reading below grade level who need the support of decodable texts, the phonics series all feature dyslexia-friendly fonts and cream-colored backgrounds.

In Rescue by Clair Baker, illustrated by Drew Wilson, ISBN 9798217130771, Erin and her best friend embark on a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids–style adventure to save her baby brother that takes them on a sci-fi journey to space, among other places. The book’s focus is on alternative spellings for vowel sounds.

Talisman 1 by Tami Reis-Frankfort, illustrated by Drew Wilson, ISBN 9798217130788, is a fantasy about Zach, whose grandfather gives him a talisman necklace with special powers—but someone else wants it and will stop at nothing to get it. This title focuses on alternative spellings for vowel sounds.

Amber Guardians by Clair Baker and Drew Wilson, ISBN 9798217130795, is another fantasy about three friends who find an ancient necklace in an old bazaar and go on a series of adventures to discover its powers. It focuses on suffixes, prefixes, and word roots. It has a higher text-to-illustration ratio for kids who are almost ready for mainstream books. “It helps really build reading stamina for those older readers,” Forbes says.

The books also include pre-reading and post-reading word lists and discussion questions to build and test comprehension. “There are not many decodables for this age group,” Forbes says. “These are all very engaging, but it’s explicit phonics practice. They’ve got that controlled-text repetition to make sure readers can decode, comprehend, and enjoy the stories independently, so they can build toward fluency.”

Treasure Bay Books

Treasure Bay Books got its start in 1997 with the idea for its innovative “We Both Read” series, designed to engage parents and children to read together at two separate reading levels. The popular series has since amassed 81 titles. And Treasure Bay continues to publish up to 36 new titles a year, with a focus on family engagement and beginning and struggling readers.

Its latest innovation, the new “Code Reader” series, includes phonetic pronunciation right in the text for challenging words, instead of in the book’s front or back matter like other phonics readers. “These are different from hi-lo books,” says Don Panec, president. “These books are more on-level but make reading more accessible to the student by providing the pronunciation keys.”

Treasure Bay launched 24 titles in the “Code Reader” series—12 fiction and 12 nonfiction—in March 2025. There are two reading levels in the series, blue for grades 3–6 and green for grades 4–7. 

Gorilla Versus Lion: Head to Head by Noah Leatherland, ISBN 9781601157232, is a 48-page blue-level (grades 3–6) high-interest nonfiction title that looks at which animal would win in an unlikely matchup of two featured predators. The book includes a plethora of information on the two animals, their habitat, lifestyle, and strength. “Every one of our books has questions to think about at the end,” Panec says. “Do you think we got it right that the gorilla won? Why do you think the lion should have won, if that’s your pick?”

To Tame a Dragon by Vanessa Walder, illustrations by Dominik Rupp, ISBN 9781601157379, is a 64-page blue-level fiction title licensed from German publisher Loewe Verlag. Sam wants to get a dog, but when he goes to the shelter, he finds a dragon instead. But owning a dragon doesn’t turn out the way Sam expects. The dragon wrecks the house, eats the furniture, and is a total menace. “You have the typical problems that you have with a pet that’s driving the whole family nuts,” Panec notes. “It’s a very humorous book. We love it.”

Sinking of the Titanic, by Vanessa Walder, illustrations by Dominik Rupp, ISBN 9781601157294, is a 48-page blue-level high-interest nonfiction title. In four chapters, kids learn the history of how the supposedly “unsinkable” ship became one of the biggest maritime disasters in history. “A lot of kids are interested in learning about the Titanic, and this book basically makes it accessible for a struggling reader,” Panec says.

Detective Raptor: The Big Dino Robbery by Laurent & Olivier Souillé, illustrated by Étienne Friess, ISBN 9781601157430, is an 80-page blue-level fiction title licensed from French publisher Groupe Flammarion. Detective Raptor and his cadre get a case to solve when a Dino armored truck is robbed of all the gold inside. “These are fun, silly books,” Panec says. “They’re adventure detective stories, which kids love.”

The longest book in the series, The Robotons and the Hydra Monster by Oriol Canosa Masllorens, illustrated by Jordi Sunyer Monfort, ISBN 9781601157386, is a 152-page, green-level (grades 4–7) graphic novel licensed from Spanish publisher Edicions Bromera. A group of low-ranking robots on a galactic spaceship are sent on Herculean missions that their commander doesn’t think they’ll survive. But their encounter with the Hydra monster goes differently than anyone expects. “It’s basically Greek mythology updated for the era of robots,” Panec says. “The name of the ship is Hercules and the commander is Eurytheus. Without the pronunciation guides, I couldn’t even pronounce his name!”

 

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