Decodable Books for High School Special Education Built With Teen Photographs and Storylines

Saddleback’s decodable phonics sets for grades 9–12 give teens beginning-reader text that respects their age. Each book includes full-color photographs, teen storylines, and a word list organized by phonics skill; each level also includes two nonfiction titles.

Pasadena, CA, Oct. 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saddleback Educational Publishing’s 72 decodable titles for high school students range from beginning reader to a 1.6 reading level, so a ninth grader still learning short vowels can practice with age-respectful photographs and storylines. The family-owned Hi-Lo publisher, founded in 1982, develops the libraries so teachers choosing decodable books for high school special education can reach students with dyslexia and other reading disabilities.

Many of those students are practicing patterns a first grader learns, and they can tell when a book was made for someone younger.

Here’s how the three Teen Emergent Reader Libraries® Phonics sets break down by grade, reading level, and content:

High-Interest Decodable Books for Teenagers With Dyslexia

A decodable book uses only the phonics patterns a student has already been taught, so the student practices decoding instead of guessing at words. Saddleback’s teen libraries use full-color photographs and storylines about teen life, and every level includes two nonfiction titles alongside the fiction.

Decodable books support the explicit, systematic phonics instruction a special education teacher or reading specialist delivers.

“When a ninth grader opens a book and sees someone their own age in the photographs, dealing with the things they deal with, they want to know what happens next,” said Arianne McHugh, President and Publisher of Saddleback Educational Publishing. “That pull keeps a student working through words that are challenging for them. We set the reading level and the interest level separately, so the phonics fits where the student is and the story fits who they are.”

Decodable Books for Students Moving From Middle School to High School

Saddleback publishes its phonics books in two grade bands. Both follow the same scope and sequence, starting with consonant-vowel-consonant words and moving through long vowels, consonant digraphs, and vowel diphthongs to multisyllabic words. A student who starts in eighth grade with grades 4–8 sets, GO! Decode®, GO! Develop®, and GO! Discover®, can pick up in ninth grade right where they left off. The teen sets teach the same patterns in the same order, in books designed for high school students.

Teacher's Guides for High School Decodable Books

The teacher's guide in each teen boxed set includes a lesson plan and reproducible phonics activities. Each book also includes a word list organized by phonics skill, so teachers can preview the pattern with a student before reading begins.

What High School Students Read After Decodable Books

Students ready for word parts and harder spellings can move on to Saddleback’s Phonics Decodable Readers: six sets of 10 books for grades 6–12, at reading levels 1.0 to 2.0. When students finish the decodable sequence, they can keep reading with Saddleback’s Hi-Lo Books™ and Teen Early Fluency Libraries®. Both offer books written for high school students at accessible reading levels.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Where can I find decodable books for high school special education students that look like teen books?
Answer: Saddleback’s Teen Emergent Reader Libraries Phonics sets are made for this. Their 72 decodable titles for grades 9–12 feature full-color photographs and teen storylines, with reading levels from beginning reader to 1.6, so high school special education students can practice phonics with age-respectful books.

Question: Are there decodable nonfiction books for high school students?
Answer: Yes. Each level of Saddleback's teen phonics sets includes two nonfiction titles alongside six fiction titles, so a high school student practicing beginning patterns can read about real subjects as well as stories.

Question: Are decodable books only for elementary school?
Answer: No. Students of any age can use decodable books if they still need to learn phonics patterns. But a high school student won’t pick up a book that looks made for a second grader. Saddleback’s teen sets use full-color photographs and storylines about teen life, so older students can practice in books that look like they belong to them.

About Saddleback Educational Publishing
Saddleback Educational Publishing is a family-owned, MWBE-certified Hi-Lo publisher founded in 1982. What started as a home-office operation shipping orders out of a garage is now a catalog of over 1,500 titles, all of them created and published by Saddleback. The same family has run it for over 40 years, and the mission has never changed.

We create high-interest, age-respectful instructional materials for striving readers in grades 4–12, including English Language Learners, Newcomers, students with learning disabilities, and students reading below grade level. Our books are written at accessible reading levels from Pre-K through fifth grade, so no matter where a student starts, we have something on our shelf for them. We offer a wide range of formats, including graphic novels, fiction, nonfiction, books in verse, and plays, because we know that the right format is just as important as the right reading level.

Ujala Qazi
Zen Media
pr@zenmedia.com