CookUp Books was conceived of by Susan Meynell after decades of experience teaching reading. Her credentials are available here.
After many years of frustration caused by lagging and non-interested readers, Susan discovered that through the use of personalized books that readers were more interested in the story, and learned to read much faster. She began personalizing books and using them with her students. She was met with incredible excitement and success.
We offer two types of books - stock and personalized. Both are intended to be downloaded and then printed on your home printer.
Stock books are written by Susan herself and are given away for free.
Personalized books are created by you. You are presented with a pre-written stock book. The pages in the book contain editable text as well as the option to replace the images. You can change the image and as much of the text as you want, or change nothing at all on a particular page. In addition, Susan has added "suggested customizations" for each book.
Our books are leveled simply from A-G, with 'A' being the simplest and 'G' the most difficult. Our leveling is similar to that of the Reading Recovery leveling, where level A translates to our levels 1-2, B translates to levels 3-4, and level G equals level 13-14. A student who is able to read at level 14, is said to have a "self extending system" which means that each time the student reads, s/he learns more about reading.
CookUpBooks is designed for use by teachers, parents, and grandparents. You should add at least one "reader" to your account (just visit "My Readers"). For example, if you are a parent with 3 children using CookUpBooks, you should add 3 "readers" to your account so you can keep your personalized books for each reader organized.
Books are available in PDF format and are intended to be downloaded and printed on your own printer. They are NOT meant to be read online OR on your computer after downloading. If you open the PDF file on your computer the pages will appear out of order in order for the computer to print your book successfully.
Stock books are free. Each personalized book is $3.00. You may add funds to your account here.
