Emergent Reader Libraries

The Teen Emergent Reader Libraries® were developed to solve the challenge of motivating the most striving teen readers to pick up a book and start reading. Saddleback offers two options: TERL Phonics, built around structured phonics instruction for teens still developing decoding skills, and TERL, a sight-words-based library that uses short, simple sentences and highlighted "emphasis" words and phrases to build confidence. Both are written at emergent and beginning reader levels, with full-color photos and teen-centric storylines that support comprehension without feeling aimed at younger readers.

Teen Emergent Reader Libraries® Phonics

TERL Phonics, Saddleback's phonics-based line within the Teen Emergent Reader Libraries®, was developed specifically for teen readers in grades 9 to 12 who are still developing their decoding skills. The series also works well for newcomers with no prior English instruction. Written at emergent and beginning reader levels, the books are carefully sequenced, starting with CVC words and progressing through long vowels, consonant digraphs, vowel diphthongs, and multisyllabic words, so striving readers build phonics skills step by step. Full-color photos and teen-centric storylines across a range of genres keep the content age-appropriate rather than aimed at younger students.

Teen Emergent Reader Libraries® 

TERL, the sight-words-based line within the Teen Emergent Reader Libraries®, was developed to motivate the most striving teen readers to pick up a book, start reading, and keep reading. Written at emergent and beginning reader levels, the series uses short, simple sentences with highlighted "emphasis" words and phrases to build confidence, paired with full-color photos that support comprehension.

Sight Words-Based Boosters

Boosters offer expansion opportunities for the Teen Emergent Reader Libraries®. Unlike the core libraries, Booster titles are sold individually, and each Booster level supports a TERL library, so they work as an add-on or to fill a gap. Boosters also stand alone as excellent Hi-Lo classroom books. STEM Boosters bring science, technology, engineering, and math content to striving readers, while Verse Boosters introduce them to the versatility of contemporary poetry.

Ready for the next step after TERL?

Teen Early Fluency Libraries®

The Teen Early Fluency Libraries® build on the reading base established by the Teen Emergent Reader Libraries®, taking striving readers into longer fiction as they bridge the gap between emergent reading and early fluency. By the time older developing readers approach a second-grade reading level, they have the basic literacy skills in place and are ready to build fluency, so text flows and makes more sense. Because fluency is so closely tied to comprehension, this next step keeps striving readers moving forward instead of stalling out at the emergent level.