Penn State University Libraries - Basal Readers

Basal readers/basal reading series are highly organized reading textbooks used to teach reading and associated skills to schoolchildren. Stories are chosen to illustrate and develop specific reading skills, which are taught in a strict pre-determined sequence. Basal readers contain stories in which limited vocabulary is introduced in a controlled fashion from certain word lists which gradually escalate in difficulty (Think Dick and Jane). Special features of basal readers include:

• Comprehension questions and student assignments following each story or poem
• Supplementary materials such as 
  
  • Workbooks
  • Activity sheets, activities
  • A "teacher's edition," of the book accompany the series.

Some of the instructional basals that are used by schools include:

• Houghton Mifflin
• Harcourt-Brace
• Open Court
• Scholastic
• Scott Foresman Collections (famous for the Dick and Jane series)