Welcome to Busy Books Australia, the revolutionary new way to learn!
Welcome to Busy Books Australia, the revolutionary new way to learn!
$119.95
In stock
What a game changer! This is such a fun and engaging way to build the foundations for reading. We love how the themes are child interest, which means longer engagement. Every time we explore, we are always finding new things to play and learn
Our Now We’re Reading Busy Book is an Early Reading Busy Book which helps children aged 4–8 years develop phonics, decoding, blending, segmenting and early literacy skills through engaging, hands-on learning activities.
Written by certified practicing Speech Pathologist Mariah Apostolopoulos, this Busy Book includes 20 interactive educational activities designed using a systematic synthetic phonics and Science of Reading approach to support reading, spelling and literacy development.
How This Early Reading Busy Book Supports Literacy Development
Learning to read is one of the most important milestones in a child’s educational journey. The Now We’re Reading Early Reading Busy Book has been designed to support children as they develop the foundational literacy skills required for reading success.
Using a structured and evidence-based approach, children are introduced to phonics concepts through engaging activities that help them recognize sounds, strengthen letter-sound relationships and build confidence with early reading tasks. The activities progress in difficulty, allowing children to consolidate existing skills while continuing to develop new literacy abilities.
The Busy Book introduces SATPIN sounds explicitly and supports children as they learn to identify initial sounds, manipulate sounds within words and develop phoneme awareness. As children progress, they begin working with blending and segmenting skills, helping them decode increasingly complex words and sentences.
Each activity has been designed to align with evidence-based literacy instruction and reflects current best practice approaches used by educators, speech pathologists and literacy specialists. The activities are suitable for children beginning formal literacy instruction as well as those who may benefit from additional support to strengthen foundational reading skills.
The learning objectives within this Busy Book align with key literacy outcomes commonly introduced during the first years of formal schooling. Preschool children who have started showing an interest in written language, sounds and letters may also benefit from the structured learning opportunities provided throughout the book.
Whether used at home, in the classroom or during therapy sessions, this Early Reading Busy Book provides practical opportunities for children to develop reading confidence while engaging in meaningful, play-based learning experiences. The interactive format helps maintain motivation while reinforcing important literacy concepts through repetition and active participation.
For educators, speech pathologists and learning support teachers, the Busy Book serves as a convenient and versatile literacy resource. The table of contents allows activities to be selected quickly based on individual learning goals, making it easy to target specific literacy skills during intervention sessions, classroom support or home practice.
Recommended Companion Busy Books
Let’s Talk Together Printed Busy Book – Supports speech, communication and language development through interactive learning.
Let’s Play Together Printed Busy Book – Encourages social interaction, emotional development and confidence through play-based learning.
Colours, Shapes & Patterns Printed Busy Book – Develops colour recognition, shape identification, pattern awareness and early learning skills.
Build Your Own Busy Book Bundle & Save
Combine multiple Busy Books to create a personalised learning bundle tailored to your child’s interests, developmental goals and learning journey.
Designed by Speech Pathologist Mariah Apostolopoulos, Now We’re Reading helps children build the confidence, skills and foundations needed for successful reading through structured, evidence-based and engaging literacy activities.
Now We’re Reading Early Reading Busy Book has been designed using a systematic synthetic phonics and Science of Reading approach to help children develop the foundational literacy skills required for reading and spelling success. Each activity supports evidence-based literacy development while building confidence through engaging, hands-on learning.
Now We’re Reading combines evidence-based literacy instruction with engaging hands-on learning activities, helping children build the phonics, reading and spelling skills needed for long-term literacy success.
NDIS Information
Now We’re Reading may be suitable for children working towards NDIS goals related to communication, literacy development, learning participation, school-readiness and increased independence. Through structured, evidence-based literacy activities, children can develop the foundational skills required for reading, spelling and academic success.
Written by Speech Pathologist Mariah Apostolopoulos, this Early Reading Busy Book uses a systematic synthetic phonics and Science of Reading approach to support literacy acquisition. The activities help children strengthen phonological awareness, phonics knowledge, decoding skills, blending, segmenting and letter-sound relationships through engaging, hands-on learning experiences.
This resource may be particularly valuable for children receiving support for speech, language, literacy or learning challenges, providing practical opportunities to practise and reinforce important reading skills at home, in educational settings or alongside therapy programs.
Need help with NDIS purchasing?
Children with eligible NDIS funding may be able to access educational resources that align with their individual goals and supports. If you would like more information about using NDIS funding for this Busy Book, please contact our team. We are happy to assist with product information, invoices and guidance to help determine whether this resource is suitable for your individual circumstances.
About Mariah Apostolopoulos & Now We’re Reading
Mariah Apostolopoulos is a certified practicing Speech Pathologist with extensive experience supporting children to develop communication, language and literacy skills. Through her clinical work, Mariah has helped children build the foundational skills required for successful reading, spelling and academic achievement.
As the author of Now We’re Reading, Mariah combines her professional expertise with evidence-based literacy instruction to create a practical, engaging resource that supports children as they begin their reading journey. The Busy Book has been designed using a systematic synthetic phonics and Science of Reading approach, reflecting current best-practice recommendations for literacy development.
The activities within this Early Reading Busy Book help children develop phonological awareness, phonics knowledge, decoding skills, blending, segmenting and letter-sound relationships through engaging, hands-on learning experiences. Each activity has been carefully designed to support literacy growth while maintaining motivation, confidence and enjoyment.
Mariah’s goal is to make evidence-based literacy instruction accessible to families, educators and therapists by providing a resource that can be used across home, school and therapy environments. The structured progression of activities allows children to practice and consolidate important reading and spelling skills while developing confidence in their abilities.
The learning objectives throughout the Busy Book align with foundational literacy skills commonly introduced during the early years of formal schooling, making it an excellent resource for children beginning to read as well as those requiring additional support to strengthen literacy foundations.
Whether used at home, in classrooms or during therapy sessions, Now We’re Reading provides a practical and engaging way to support reading development using proven literacy strategies.
Product Features
Educational Benefits
The Now We’re Reading Early Reading Busy Book combines evidence-based literacy instruction with engaging hands-on learning activities, helping children build the foundational reading, spelling and phonics skills needed for long-term learning success.
Original price was: $59.95.$19.95Current price is: $19.95.
Not sure which Busy Book fits your needs? Curious about something or eager to share a success story with us? We love hearing from you and are always ready to help guide you to the perfect pick or celebrate your Busy Book results.
Grace Power –
This was the first book of the new bundle for Lola to want to get into. Although it is a little beyond her developmental level she had a good go and loved my support and guidance throughout the book. Lola loves being read to so this helped her be involved in that process.
Angie – Mum to Charlie –
What a game changer! This is such a fun and engaging way to build the foundations for reading. We love how the themes are child interest, which means longer engagement. Every time we explore, we are always finding new things to play and learn.
Kaye Gahan –
Very useful resource thanks
Kara Weatherall –
This is the perfect resource to help support my little one in learning to read. He loves completing these activities and learning along the way
K.W. –
Obsessed
This is the perfect resource to help support my little one in learning to read. He loves completing these activities and learning along the way
G.P. –
This was the first book of the new bundle for Lola to want to get into. Although it is a little beyond her developmental level she had a good go and loved my support and guidance throughout the book. Lola loves being read to so this helped her be involved in that process.
A.-.M.t.C. –
Game changer
What a game changer! This is such a fun and engaging way to build the foundations for reading. We love how the themes are child interest, which means longer engagement. Every time we explore, we are always finding new things to play and learn.
N. –
Brilliant!
My 6yr old has thoroughly enjoyed the ‘Now We’re Reading’ Busy Book! The book is so engaging and perfect for her reading level. Each activity is interesting yet stretching her learning in a fun and interactive way!
Natalia.V –
My 6yr old has thoroughly enjoyed the â??Now Weâ??re Readingâ?? Busy Book! The book is so engaging and perfect for her reading level. Each activity is interesting yet stretching her learning in a fun and interactive way!
Kaye Gahan (verified owner) –
Very useful resource thanks
staceyborg92 –
This Busy Book is a bit advanced for my 3 year old, but he is starting with letter recognition, particular the first letter of his name and his sisters name. I love how the Busy Book can be adapted to different ages. We are using this Busy Book to focus on the alphabet and sounds, but will definitely get more use of the book as he gets older.
Dannii –
The great accompaniment to starting with sounds busy book, educational and engaging to work together to make reading fun and interactive with a range of texts and illustrations. Stretching sounds and bringing them back together to form those important foundation words. My 5 year old has been able to get large amounts of interactive fun out of this resource.
Savannah Jolly (verified owner) –
Now We’re Reading has been utilised across our team of academic tutors for going on a month. My team and I have incorporated this resource into various sessions with students aged six to eight and have nothing but rave reviews.
After a long day at school – engaging students in academic tutoring sessions can often be challenging however this is simply not the case when utilising Now We’re Reading. Our primary aged students are enthusiastically engaged from start to finish of our thirty to sixty minute sessions thanks to the fun, play-based approach of Busy Books.
In the short time we have been using this resource we have seen vast improvement in many of our students’ learning goals particularly those students with learning disabilities and intellectual delays. These improvements include but are not limited to an increase in vocabulary, improved recognition of phoneme and overall improvement in reading and spelling ability. These improvements are life changing for many of our students who a mere month ago were struggling to grasp concepts like this.
I also cannot post a review without commenting on the quality of the Busy Books. The quality of these products is flawless. As mentioned we have used this resource across many students and have not encountered a single issue. They are of incredible quality.
Savannah Jolly @ Enquiring Minds Tutoring (Bachelor of Education)
Caitlin –
Using the Now We’re Reading to exposure our 2 year old son to initial sounds was a great tool! We used activity 3, with a focus on the /t/ sound and decided to find lots of different toys / objects that began with this sound. This was a great resource that we could connect to his own environment, making it meaningful for him. The quality and construction of these books is fantastic- perfect for young toddler hands – that we know will last for a long time! I was super impressed with the range of activities in the book and love that it was created with a speech pathologist. As an early years educator, I love that my son was able make connections to his world (making it meaningful and transferrable), he was copying the sounds that I was using and that he had the option to build his fine motor skills. Would highly recommend this book to both parents and teachers working with early years (3-6yo) aged children.
Caitlin
Early Years Educator