Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5)
Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5) by Lari Don takes about 2.5 minutes to read aloud (250 words, about 2 sentences a page), and it lands best with children aged 5-8.
Measured read-aloud timeabout 2.5 minutes
- Words
- 250our estimate, not a published count
- Sentences a page
- 2
- Re-read tolerance
- 3/5holds up
- Vocabulary
- 2/5everyday words
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The useful verdict
Why Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5) works
Collins Big Cat is the scheme whose decodables read most like real books, and this strand is matched sound-for-sound to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is now the most widely adopted validated phonics programme in English schools. Phase 5 is the Year 1 stage where alternative spellings of the same sound arrive - ai, ay, a-e - and a story written by an actual children's author makes that grind bearable.
Before you buy it
Only worth buying if your school uses Little Wandle; the phase numbering will not line up otherwise. Collins also band their books by colour (pink, red, yellow, blue, green, orange, turquoise, purple, gold, white, lime, in that order) - the phase and the colour band are two different systems and shops mix them up constantly.
Themes: phonics, decodable, squirrels, nature.
Same shape, new story
Books like Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5)
Matched by length, refrain, sentence density, and listener—not just subject.
Phonics Learn at Home Pack 1 (Bug Club), Phonics Sets 1-3 for Ages 4-5about 2 minutes · 2/5 re-read
Julia Donaldson's Songbirds Read with Oxford Phonics 36 Books Collection Set (Stage 1-4)about 32.5 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Read with Biff, Chip and Kipper: The Moon Jet and Other Storiesabout 6.5 minutes · 3/5 re-read
Phonic Books Dandelion Readers Vowel Spellings Level 1: The Mailabout 5.5 minutes · 3/5 re-read
Usborne Very First Reading: Book 8: Moon Zoomabout 2 minutes · 3/5 re-read
Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds Phonics: Level 1+: Top Catunder a minute · 4/5 re-read
Phonic Books Talisman 1about 38 minutes · 3/5 re-read
Straight answers
Questions parents ask about Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5)
- How long does it take to read Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5) aloud?
- About 2.5 minutes at an unhurried pace, from a word count of 250. Reading it fast shaves perhaps a third off; stopping for questions on every page can double it.
- What age is Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5) actually for?
- Ages 5-8 in our testing, which is narrower than the publisher's range. With 2 sentences a page and vocabulary at 2 out of 5, it asks for that much attention span and no more.
- Does Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5) survive being read on repeat?
- Yes, reasonably. It stays bearable through the repeat-request phase without becoming a favourite forever.
- Can a beginning reader read Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5) on their own?
- It is closer than most picture books. With 2 sentences a page and plain vocabulary (2 out of 5), a confident early reader can attempt it, though it is written to be read aloud first.
- Is Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5) part of a series?
- Yes, it belongs to the Collins Big Cat Phonics series. It stands on its own, so you can start here without reading the others in order, then move to the rest if it lands.
- What themes does Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: The Hide and Seek Squirrels (Phase 5) cover?
- We tag it with phonics, decodable, squirrels and nature. Those are the threads that actually run through the book, not just the ones on the cover, which is how it earns its place on our themed lists rather than a keyword match.