Customer Reviews
Fantastic - Really!! - By: Karen Fitzgerald, 10 Sep 2008 
I was trying to teach my child to read. Getting it wrong, frustrating both myself & my daughter - so I searched online to see what was good. I read so many reviews of this book, that it convinced me. I just wanted to add now, I am at lesson 42 today with my daughter. She can read 5 sentences at this stage, almost half of it already without sounding out & reading fast. It's great! It's phonics with a meticulous teaching process! & it works perfectly!!
Needs another edition, but system works really well. - By: J. Brown, 04 Aug 2008 
Tonight my daughter (age 3 yrs 8 months) read her own bedtime stories - proper little tales, not just "cat sat on a mat". She has done about 80 of the 100 lessons, no more than 20 minutes a day & about 5 times a week. She's very bright but due to having an October birthday, won't start formal schooling for another year & I knew that she would be very frustrated without some intellectual challenges. She asked to learn to read & I had no idea how to teach her - how you you explain "read" & "red" & "read" & "reed" & so on?
This book tells you - it is VERY proscriptive, you must say the words exactly as they tell you, even down to how to praise your child (but I slipped from that a little as we went on & grewin confidence). Other reviewers have criticised the strange symbols & the use of little letters etc, & I wondered how she would move from this strange almost-code to proper writing, but she just did. I can't explain how, but her mind coped with it with no problem at all.
To start with, I found the programme daunting - pages of explanation before you get into it, & I worried I would set my daughter back by putting her off reading entirely. This was not the case at all.
Good points:
+ it really works
+ you start to see results very soon
+ the child gets a great sense of achievement
+ the authors really know what they are talking about, even if you don't believe it at first - for example more than one lesson back to back is inadvisable, even if your child finished the first lesson eager for more.
Bad points:
- it is American, so one has to translate "sidewalk" & "mom" etc
- there are far too many typing errors, missing the pronunciation marks off letters etc, we had to go through the book putting themin with black pen.
- some of their pronunciation is bizarre: "for" to be pronounced rhyming with "mower" for example?! Is it the American accent, or is it just sloppy editing? We just ignored this after a while.
For me it loses 2 stars for the sloppy editing, but as the programme still works so effectively, I've given it a bonus star to make up for taking off 2 - the programme is almost perfect, the publishers need to sharpen up their act!
I will use it again for my son.
PS (added later) she's now nearly 4 & on stage 2 of the reading scheme - her class mate have not started it yet!
brilliant - By: Ms. L. J. Goulding, 15 Jun 2008 i bought this to teach my 3 & a half yr old daughter to read & i am amazed by her progress with it. we have to make it fun & turn it into a game & by doing that it keeps her keen & engaged. sitting down & doing a lesson too formally with her just didn't work, so by breaking up the lesson & swinging her round or throwing her on the sofa when she did a good word, she finds it fun & wants to do it. we also used sticker charts & she got a prize for every ten lessons. There is a writing sectionin each lesson but we just skipped them completely as she just doesn't have the motor skills yet.
my daughter starts schoolin 2 months & i'm confident she'll be a competent reader by then.
Buy it!!!
Not engaging enough for some maybe especially younger boys - By: Ashten, 19 May 2008 
I bought this book as I have bright twin boys who were showing an interestin words & reading. I began the book when they were 3.5 as instructed by the author. We went through about the first 20 lessons. It was hard going & although I have no doubts that the method is carefully planned & would work if the child is engaged with the format. My boys found it too boring & we gave up. I have had much better success with the online teaching of clicknkids.
Excellent book - By: Louise Camg, 04 Nov 2007 After reading all the reviews I thought I'd give this book a go. It didn't disappoint. My son finished his reception year still not being able to read a word so I felt it was time I had a go at teaching him myself. 5 months on & we're coming to the end of the book & my son, soon to be 6 can read so well it's amazing. It's also helped with his speech because he's had to learn the sounds the letters make & he was determined to get it right. You have to be quite dedicated & we try to do it every day doesn't always happen but we try. It's not always been easy, lack of enthusiasm, time & energy but we've stuck at it. The book is brilliantin it's approach & really, really does work, I can't stress that enough. I am a rubbish teacher but because the book tells you exactly what to say it's made the whole process so much easier. My son loves the fact he can read a story to me from the book. I'm so glad I bought this book.
