This was a required textbook for my son’s language arts program and I have used it religiously to reinforce his ability to sound out CVCs, digraphs, and the occasional diphthong. In the beginning it will be repetitive and slow but the payoff is priceless if you remain engaged and committed.

A simple guide to teaching the basics of reading. We have paused now at lesson 80, and my son can make it through Frog and Toad stories with only a little help. This book has silly stories and illustrations but I felt could never show a child the joy of reading unless there are a lot of great read alouds happening at the same time.

This book does a phenomenal job of teaching kids to read !! After having tried other reading methods (hooked on phonics, etc) that did not work with my oldest child, a friend recommended this to me and I couldn't be happier. By the end of the book, she was reading like a pro (she was 4.5 years). Now at the end of 1st grade (7 years) she reads at a 5th grade level. I used it on my second child (she was 4) and she will go to kindergarten in a few months but already reads at a second grade level. Both love to read, but I know that may not be the case for everyone's children. I feel this book was a great start to teaching my children to read.

After some difficulties with the power struggle with the first child, I adjusted and changed some things with the second child. Made a big difference. The key to winning the power struggle with your child is to take it easy and be flexible. If your child doesn't like the writing lessons at the end, don't do them (we hardly did any, because neither of my kids liked them). They get plenty of writing practice in preschool and kindergarten anyway. I have friends who say this was their child's favorite part, so they did extra time writing. When it comes to the second story reading, we would only do it once and save the second reading for the next day. Then the next day, we started with reading the previous days story (the second read) and then moved onto the new lesson and did the same thing at the end: read the story only once and save the second read for the next day. Keeps the kids more interested that way. Also, you don't have to follow the script Word for Word, adjust it to your everyday vocabulary and keep it fun. If you make it seem like a chore, they react accordingly.

I'll be honest, the first few pages leading up to the actual lessons that explain how the book works were daunting. I procrastinated starting for awhile as those initial pages made the book seem like too much. Once I actually started the lessons with my 4 year old son, I realized it's a really simple method and GENIUS. I didn't think I'd actually be able to teach my kid how to read until we started the lessons in this book. The book actually tells you what to say to your child. My son is now in Kindergarten and doing really well all thanks to this book. My only complaint about the book is that it should be spiral bound.

My almost 5 year old really wanted to learn to read so we recently started this program. It took me a while to get started doing it b/c 1) I was waiting for her to be little more ready, 2) As the parent, you do have to read through the instructions and do a little preparation in terms of practicing sounds (to make sure you teach them right) beforehand and I kept putting that off. But we did start and it wasn't a smooth ride for the first two weeks. It was easy for ME because they give you a script and you just follow the script. She, however, lost interest real fast. But we've stuck with it (thanks to some bribery :) and I'm glad. She use to only have the attention span for half a lesson...now she's getting really quick at it that we can do a whole lesson in one sitting (20 minutes) and we are now at lesson 15.

This book was highly recommended by my sister-in-law, Tiffany, who has used it with her kids and she told me that when they get to lesson 100 they are at a 2nd grade reading level and so she suggested I just work to lesson 30-40, which brought me tons of relief. :) Thanks, Tiffany. Sorry for all the details but thought others might want to know. It's a good resource for kids who want to start reading before school or could use some help learning to read after they have started school. I think the program seems great. If ANYTHING, my daughter is learning to sit still for 20 minutes every day to do something academic (which she needed to practice for kindergarten).

This book is brilliant. It is scripted and guides you on what to do/say to teach your child. Your child needs no prior knowledge of letter names or sounds.
We are on lesson 24 with our 4 year old. It can feel dry and repetitive but my child is motivated to complete the lessons because he is READING. Highly recommend!

My oldest child was in kindergarten when the pandemic hit, and we live in a VERY covid cautious area, so she basically had no school for 2 years. We went through this book lesson by lesson throughout 2020 and she is now a voracious reader of chapter books and Classics. My second child turns 5 today and we are starting this book with her, though hopefully she'll have an uninterrupted education when she starts kindergarten next year. It's a great supplement for a parent to use if they are worried their child is not learning to read through the school system or they just want to get a head start on reading.

We call it “the snuggle book.” I love that it doesn’t waste time on letter names or capitals—kids will pick up on those elsewhere—phonemic awareness and the lower case letters are the more important part for reading. My kiddos don’t usually pay attention to a whole lesson at a time so we break them up into 2-3 tasks a session and we only do it when they want to. If I’m allowed to brag, my daughter was reading books like “James and the Giant Peach” and American Girls books independently before she started kindergarten! Spoiler: the old man has no coats because he gave his to the tiger.

I used this to teach both our daughters to read, and it worked like a charm.

It worked to teach my child to read. The stories were too long in the second half but the lessons themselves were good.

If you are an immigrant, this book is for you! Learning English as a foreign language starting in high school, I had no idea where to start with my daughter! I decided to do that because when I heard how they teach reading, I was shocked. I could not believe that the approach "look at the picture and guess the word" is a real thing, but when I talked to my kids' teacher, she confirmed that.

I started doing a research and I found out that I was right, there are kids out there in high school who can't read. This book was so easy to follow, for me and my daughter. Teaching reading and learning reading doesn't come easy, you have to put hard work if you want to learn. The book was easy to follow, although we did have hard moments. Everyone learns at a different speed, and some kids may require more effort and more time, but this book will teach your child to read. If they are younger and can't stay still long enough, stop and start later. In my country, kids start reading in Kindergarten, which is when they are 6-years-old. I do believe at that age it will be much easier to teach a kid, because they can sit through 20-30min.

When I started with my daughter she was 4,5, and now she is 5 and reading. The first 40–60 lessons took about 20-30 min. a day. It was harder for her later when the transition with the letters started, and also when the texts were longer, she just didn't have the patience, but we did it. The last 30 lessons I have to admit we didn't read the texts twice as recommended, I decided I have to compromise and that's what I chose, but I made sure she sounded out every single word correctly before moving to the next word. Perhaps I should have started later, but I'm happy I didn't give up because she is now reading. The other thing is, that kids here have too much fun at school, and they like going because it's fun. In my country school is not that much fun, you literally go to school to learn, so I knew there's going to be push back from my kid and I knew how to deal with it. My older daughter was the reason I decided to teach my younger daughter to read. Exterminating the "look at the picture and guess" method was a real pain. I would also recommend reading the introduction and the parent's guide. It explains a lot about how the program works and information about it. I was shock to find out that the creators of the program did not believe there is such a thing as dyslexia and learning disability, and I never believed in that too, because we don't have such a thing in my country!

Overall, I'm happy I didn't give up, because she will go to Kindergarten able to read.

On the recommendation of a friend, I began using this book with Nathan. I love the method used and that it takes no daily preparation on my part. So far we are on lesson 12 and Nate is doing extremely well. I am very pleased with the results and only expect good things from here.