Redback Phonics Readers are designed to provide essential phonics reading practice for children who have already learned and practised over 40 alphabet sounds, as well as suffixes, prefixes, digraphs and trigraphs.

These non-fiction readers offer meaningful non-fiction content using language that incorporates elements familiar to children who have undergone phonics training, such as the UK Letters and Sounds program, Phases 1-6. This program typically supports children in Kindergarten to Year 2, after which the focus usually shifts from decodable phonics instruction to phonics reading practice.

Therefore, the Redback Phonics Library is primarily intended for children towards the end of Year 2 and beyond. It's the perfect next step for students who have already used levelled phonics readers. Of course, more advanced readers in younger years might also find these texts accessible. The illustrations provide context and help maintain focus, though they are not intended for inquiry-based learning. Explicit phonics instruction before using these readers will enable children to decode the majority of the text. While some challenging words are included, most of the content is decodable for children who have progressed through a systematic phonics instruction program.

A key feature of the Redback Phonics Readers is that they naturally present grammatical elements, text layouts and other common print features that are often omitted in strictly levelled decodable readers. Additionally, the Redback Phonics Readers maintain a typical flow of language and presentation of information, without the strict limitations on words and sounds necessary for levelled decodable readers. This normalisation of language presentation is a crucial step in transitioning to early chapter books, which are the natural progression after using Redback Phonics Readers.