Elspeth Rae

A Duck in a Sock is the first book in a series designed for shared reading between a child learning to read and an experienced reader. The stories have special features to help a child with dyslexia or another language-based learning difficulty find reading success.

Meg and Greg are hanging out for the summer doing what ten-year-olds do—helping an injured duckling, finding a lost pet fish, saving ranch animals from a wildfire and catching a wandering sloth! Jump inside to join Meg and Greg on their adventures.

Reviews
"My students love the engaging story lines of the Meg and Greg books. Although they are only meant to read the captions on the picture pages, they take great pride in trying (and succeeding!) to read the "teacher pages" as well" - Leslie O'Haga

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 9.

This book includes features to accommodate struggling or dyslexic readers, such as comic-book-style illustrations, a dyslexia-friendly typeface with ample spacing and shaded paper to reduce contrast between text and paper—all of which make this series more accessible.

Targeted at struggling readers ages six to nine, A Duck in a Sock has a wide appeal to ELL readers, reluctant readers and at-level readers alike with its engaging and age-appropriate plots and low reading level that doesn’t demoralize or stigmatize struggling readers.

Co-author Elspeth Rae is a teacher certified in using the Orton-Gillingham Approach to teach children with dyslexia and other language-based learning difficulties. She is currently a literacy specialist teaching reading, spelling and writing to children ages five to thirteen.

Co-author Elspeth Rae was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was eight years old.

This is the first book in the Meg and Greg series, a new Orca Two Read series for shared reading that introduces one new phonogram (a letter or combination of letters that represent a sound) in each story. These books are cumulative, so each story builds on the previous one, and each book will build on the previous book. The first book covers the ck, sh, ch and th phonograms.

On the left page is an adult or buddy reader's text.  On the right is the kid's text on grey paper, a feature that helps readers with dyslexia.  Key features include:

• Shaded paper that reduces contrast.
• Labels that allow very early readers to participate.
• Extra space between letters, words and lines of text.
• Kid's text that is controlled to remove spelling exceptions and advanced words.
• Words with target phonogram that appear in bold type.
• Easy to read font.

A downloadable resource pack is available: Resource Pack - Meg and Greg: A Duck in a Sock

Additional Information
168 pages | 5.87" x 8.25"

A decodable book featuring four phonics stories for striving readers, with special features to help children with dyslexia or other language-based learning difficulties find reading success.

Meg and Greg are back to school and ready for fall fun! Join Meg, Greg and friends as they plan an event for dogs at the fall fair, solve challenging clues in a scavenger hunt, complete their planned science-fair project and look after excitable kindergarteners at the pumpkin patch.

Meg and Greg: A Handful of Dogs is the fifth book in the Meg and Greg series designed for shared reading between a child learning to read and an experienced reader. The four stories inside introduce different types of suffixes and prefixes (consonant suffixes -ful -ly -ment -s, vowel suffixes -en -er -es -est -ing -y, the suffix -ed and prefixes de- dis- ex- in- pre- re- un-) and the spelling rules for adding them to base words. In addition to the familiar comic-style kids’ pages, Book 5 features new highly controlled and decodable prose pages to gently increase the amount of text that readers experience and to provide even more opportunities to practice the reading skills previously introduced in Meg and Greg Books 1–4!

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 9.

This book includes features to accommodate struggling or dyslexic readers, such as comic-book-style illustrations, a dyslexia-friendly typeface with ample spacing and shaded paper to reduce contrast between text and paper—all of which make this series more accessible.

Targeted at struggling readers ages six to nine has a wide appeal to ELL readers, reluctant readers and at-level readers alike with its engaging and age-appropriate plots and low reading level that doesn’t demoralize or stigmatize struggling readers.

This is the fifth book in the Orca Two Read series, designed for shared reading between a child learning to or struggling to read and an experienced reader.  All of the stories have special features to help a child with dyslexia or another language-based learning difficulty find reading success.

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.87" x 8.25" | Paperback

Frank and the Skunk is the second book in the Orca Two Read line designed for shared reading between a child learning to read or struggling to read and an experienced reader, following Duck in a Sock. The stories have special features to help a child with dyslexia or another language-based learning difficulty find reading success.

Besties Meg and Greg are off to sleep-away camp for the summer! Along with your standard camp activities (swimming and making crafts) the duo have a run-in with a skunk, sing a silly song about a king, go on a canoe trip that has one glitch after another, and make a mess in the lodge with a fresh batch of fudge! So sit down and cozy up for another set of Meg and Greg adventures, this one focusing on the phonograms: nk, ng, tch and edge.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

This book is part of the Meg and Greg Series, an Orca Two Read line designed for shared reading between a child learning to read or struggling to read and an experienced reader.

Themes: phonics, dyslexia, learning difference, animal adventures, buddy reading

A downloadable resource pack is available: Resource Pack - Meg and Greg: Frank and the Skunk

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.87" x 8.25" | b&w illustrations

A decodable book featuring four phonics stories specially designed to help children with dyslexia or other language-based learning difficulties find reading success.

While Meg and Greg are visiting Greg’s family on Stardust Island they find themselves searching for one lost or missing item after another! Join Meg, Greg, cousin Martha and a puppy named Scarlet as they discover the thief who took off with a precious garnet ring at a farmers’ market, find and catch a horse named Popcorn who got lost in a forest, save a surfer who fell from his board and got badly hurt and chase an escaped teddy bear dangling from a helium balloon at a fun fair.

Meg and Greg: Scarlet and the Ring is the fourth book in the Orca Two Read series designed for shared reading between a child learning to read and an experienced reader. Inside you'll find four stories that focus on words with r-controlled vowels. For the first time in the series, readers will also be introduced to multiple spellings for a single sound.

Reviews
“Provides a supported flow to the reading of each story that enables the young reader to gain confidence. The modelling by the adult /buddy reader provides strategies for the young reader. At the same time, the story requires each partner to contribute to the reading in order to discover and enjoy each adventure. This partnership makes shared reading a special experience for both readers. Highly Recommended.”— CM: Canadian Review of Materials

“An extremely useful and entertaining series for striving readers; children reading this book along with their partner are not only getting the adventures of Meg and Greg, but learning their sight words and phonics with ease.”— School Library Journal

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 9.

This book includes features to accommodate struggling or dyslexic readers, such as comic-book-style illustrations, a dyslexia-friendly typeface with ample spacing and shaded paper to reduce contrast between text and paper—all of which make this series more accessible.

Targeted at struggling readers ages six to nine has a wide appeal to ELL readers, reluctant readers and at-level readers alike with its engaging and age-appropriate plots and low reading level that doesn’t demoralize or stigmatize struggling readers.

This is the fourth book in the Orca Two Read series, designed for shared reading between a child learning to or struggling to read and an experienced reader.  All of the stories have special features to help a child with dyslexia or another language-based learning difficulty find reading success.

A downloadable resource pack is available: Resource Pack - Meg and Greg: Scarlet and the Ring

Additional Information
159 pages | 5.87" x 8.25" | Paperback

Meg and Greg are on summer holidays and are off on a series of adventures around their neighborhood, along with some four-legged companions. The two friends pull off a bake sale despite back-to-back disasters in the preparations, save the day for Greg’s mom when her ballet studio floods, rescue the neighbor's dog after he slips down a slope into a cove, and discover a lost cat with newborn kittens sheltering in a dangerous spot in the garden. So sit down and cozy up for another Meg and Greg adventure, this one focusing on: a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, and u-e.

Educator Information
Meg and Greg: The Bake Sale is the third book in the Orca Two Read series, designed for shared reading between a child learning to or struggling to read and an experienced reader, following Frank and the Skunk and Duck in a Sock. All of the stories have special features to help a child with dyslexia or another language-based learning difficulty find reading success.

Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

Themes: early chapter books, dyslexia, learning differences, animal adventures, beginner readers.

A downloadable resource pack is available: Resource Pack - Meg and Greg: The Bake Sale

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.87" x 8.25" | b&w illustrations

A decodable book featuring four phonics stories for striving readers, with special features to help children with dyslexia or other language-based learning difficulties find reading success.

Join Meg, Greg and friends on vacation where they throw a birthday party on a train, rescue a sheep from a creek, volunteer for a wild night in the circus and compete in a rowboat race. Plus, take a peek at a few of Greg's vacation photos in a bonus mini story!

Reviews
“The ‘Meg and Greg’ series continue to deliver valuable phonics instruction through engaging stories. The series offers a rare and much-needed resource for children with dyslexia. The adult-child team reading approach is innovative and makes this series a valuable addition to any collection, particularly for libraries supporting diverse reading needs." - School Library Journal (SLJ) Series Made Simple

“While Meg and Greg: Train Day! is designed as a decodable book, the humour, the problem solving, and the variety of characters, together with entertaining graphics and the chapter book format, will appeal to all children in grades 2 to 4. Once the format is explained to the child and proficient reading partner, both readers will enjoy a fun, engaging reading journey together. Highly recommended.”- CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 9.

Meg and Greg: Train Day! is the sixth book in the Meg and Greg series designed for shared reading between a child learning to read and an experienced reader. The four stories inside (plus a bonus mini story!) introduce long vowels using vowel teams (long a: ai, ay, a, a-e; long e: ee, ea, e, y, e-e; long i: igh, ild, ind, i, y, i-e; long o: oa, ow, old, oll, olt, ost, o, o-e; long u: ue, ew, u, u-e). In addition to the familiar comic-style kids’ pages, highly controlled and decodable prose pages gently increase the amount of text that readers experience and provide even more opportunities to practice the reading skills previously introduced in Meg and Greg Books 1–5.

Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient: L
Lexile measure: 460L
Guided Reading Level: L

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.87" x 8.25" | Paperback