How it works
A story, a band for each reader, one table
Ordinary levelled-reader systems solve difficulty by giving each child a different book. HummingRead does the opposite: the same worthwhile story at up to six levels — some on the shelf now, others built when a family asks — so the family reads one story and talks about it together.
A reader is short — a booklet of eight to sixteen pages — and complete: the story with its pictures, pause questions along the way, Words to Know, Let’s Talk questions, and an About page that says where the story came from and when it was first published. Beside it sit a worksheet and a Quick Check for the ones who want to work the story, and a read-aloud script for the ones who want to hear it.
The six bands
Grouped by reading. Advanced by evidence.
A band describes how a reader reads today — not their age, their grade, or where they ought to be. The same story exists at up to six bands, so moving up is a step inside a story the reader already knows.
- Purple band399 ready now
Pre-K to K · ages 4–5
Read with an adult. Short sections, a picture for every part of the story, and a colouring page. The adult reads first; the child reads along and retells.
About 350 words in five short sections, 18-point type, four pictures and a colouring page. Read by the adult first.
- Yellow band323 ready now
Grades 1–3 · ages 6–8
Read together, then alone. Simple sentences, four pictures, pause questions along the way, and Words to Know at the end.
About 550 words, 16-point type, four pictures, pause questions. Read together, then alone.
- Green band177 ready now
Grades 4–6 · ages 9–11
Read alone with a check-in. Longer sections, fuller sentences, three pictures, and questions that ask why as well as what.
About 800 words, 14-point type, three pictures. Questions ask why as well as what.
- Blue band139 ready now
Grades 7–9 · ages 12–14
Read alone. A thousand words of real prose, two pictures, vocabulary in context, and discussion that asks for evidence.
About 1,000 words, two pictures, vocabulary in context. Discussion asks for evidence from the text.
- Red band75 ready now
Grades 10–12 · ages 15–17
The original voice, lightly cut. Period language kept where it carries the story, with a note on the era. Questions of judgment.
Longer, in the original voice, lightly cut; period language kept with a note on the era. Questions of judgment.
- Silver band39 ready now
First-year university · adult
The text as an adult reads it, with the About page as a companion. For the parent at the same table, and for anyone reading literature again.
The text as an adult reads it, with the About page as companion. For the parent at the same table.
Ages are a guide, not a rule. The reading profile places each reader from what you observe; the Quick Checks tell you when to move.
How long a reader is at each band, and why the type and pictures change: the science behind our readers.
Step by step
What a reading week looks like
- 1
Find each reader’s starting band
Ten minutes, adult-led, observable behaviour only. It returns a starting band, not a label, and you can change it. Do it once for every reader in the house.
- 2
Pick tonight’s story
The Family Reading Map shows every reader’s band. Choose a story family with each of those bands ready now, or let the Library suggest one.
- 3
Read it your way
On screen, on a Kobo or Kindle, printed as a booklet, or aloud from the script. Purple and Yellow readers come with a colouring page for afterwards.
- 4
Pause, talk, check
Pause questions inside the story; Let’s Talk at the end; a worksheet for the desk; a Quick Check you mark in a minute. Eight in ten says ready for the next reader at this band. Twice below that in a row says slow down, not push harder.
- 5
Move up when the reading is ready
Bands move on evidence, never on age. Two or three readers at the top of a band with easy checks, and the next band is a comfortable step.
Why readers are this length, and why the pictures, questions and type change band by band: the science behind our readers.
Who it’s for
- Families
- Homeschool co-ops
- Classrooms and schoolsEvery reader is a lesson
- Tutors
- English learners
- Grandparents at a distance
The bookplate
Your name on every page you print. Every download carries your household’s name.
Formats
Digital · E-reader · Print · Audio
Each reader comes in the formats the membership includes: the web reader and a PDF, an EPUB for e-readers, three print layouts, and the read-aloud script. Some readers are narrated, and at Purple and Yellow the words light up as they’re read: look for Listen. How a reader is made.