I see a redbird looking at me. I see a yellow duck looking at me. This is not to say that they would have mastered all of the words in isolation, or even all of the letter sounds. All of the other elements of reading will come in time, with lots of practice and good instruction. The key to using real literature at the very beginning of formal reading instruction is in using books that are predictable.
Children can quickly follow and read along with the book after the first few pages.
They are about concepts that are very familiar to most early readers. The children can easily identify with the story line and the characters. There is a good match between the text and its illustrations. This is an important key in a book's readability. In the selection from Brown Bear, Brown Bear above, the pictures that accompany the text essentially tell the story for the child after he has become familiar with the pattern.