[groundCode]

My child learned to read using phonics. We didn’t use this book though. At some point she asked us what the squiggly black “pictures” in her book were. Once she figured out that we weren’t just making up the stories and that they were there for anyone to read she was motivated. Then reading time basically became sounding out words with her until she could read. We were lucky to have access to a lot of books very cheaply and some good libraries in walking distance which helped.