Usborne First Reading Level 2 books in order

Reading order

The Usborne First Reading series uses a graded approach, and Level 2 sits at the stage where children have basic decoding skills but still benefit from substantial picture support. Rob Lloyd Jones wrote or adapted the 22 books in this collection across a period from 2007 to 2015, drawing on an international range of folk tales, fables, nursery rhymes, and classic stories.

The titles include African folk tales (Clever Rabbit and the Lion, The Baobab Tree, How Elephants Lost Their Wings), animal fables (The Tortoise and the Eagle, How Bear Lost His Tail), and nursery rhyme expansions (There Was a Crooked Man, Old Mother Hubbard, One Two Buckle My Shoe). A Shakespeare adaptation, Macbeth (2008), adapts the plot for the youngest possible audience, while more unusual choices like Snails and Bears introduce natural history subjects through the graded reader format.

The series gives children at the early reading stage a wide variety of cultural contexts and story types, which helps build both reading skill and story knowledge. The Christmas Cobwebs (2012) and The Daydreamer (2013) are among the more original entries alongside the folk and fairy tale material.