Beginners Books

I have purchased this book and the others in the series because of the timeless teaching tool that it is. I wish schools would go back to this book. I myself learned from these books because I was in a private school and I remembered this fact in the attempts to find a good teaching tool for my own son.

The next best thing is Abeka books if you can get your hands on them. My grandmother taught 3 year olds for years and she would start children every year with the tools in this book. I am so glad I found them in stock at Amazon. Every parent should buy them for their children. There is no better textbook available and the method is tried and true.

Last fall, we borrowed the Hooked on Phonics from a neighbor, and saw limited results with my 5 yr old son. BUT, I thought, some progress is better than none, so I begged my mother to buy Hooked on Phonics for Christmas. She didn't. I thought she was just being cheap by giving him a McGuffey Primer, but I have seen my son FLY through the lessons. He is reading with comprehension and retaining the words better than I ever could have imagined. Hooked on Phonics was just too colorful, included too much media (little books, big books, stickers, CDRoms, videotapes, etc.) and was, I don't know, just so HECTIC feeling. With these readers, we sit together on the couch, my son is able to go at his own pace, and have a real sense of accomplishment in just a 5-10 minute lesson. And he has an interest in reading *outside* of the lessons, also, which he didn't have before. I ENCOURAGE YOU to purchase this reader, as well as the entire set, since when you have one, you'll want them all.

BTW- *My son* asked Grandma for the next McGuffey reader for his birthday. Pretty cool, huh?

I bought this book for my 6 year old who is having some trouble learning to read. I love the book for its simplicity. The first couple of pages show the alphabet letters with the uppercase letters on one page and the lowercase letters on the other. My son has really enjoyed using those two pages to learn letter recognition. Then come the reading pages, and each page gets progressively more difficult as you go along. The black and white illustrations are simple and enjoyable but not distracting. Each page has a short lesson with letters and short words shown at the top of the page and sentences using the letters and words down below. My son has enjoyed trying to find the letters/short words from above in the sentences below. The earlier lessons use simple words such as cat and rat, but the lessons do get more complex as you continue along. I have enjoyed teaching my son some new vocabulary words with this book also as some of the older words are used such as lad instead of boy and nag instead of horse. The book is small and easy for a child to hold. This book is well worth the small investment, and I look forward to moving on to the other McGuffy's Readers as my son progresses.

Originally Attracted to the McGuffey readers for the novelty of it, I bought the Primer shortly after my first child was born. I read it myself, thought the pedagogy sound--particularly the writers' decision to avoid allowing children to use pictures to "guess" the words--and I came to appreciate the simplicity and clarity of the short lessons. While I use many other beginning reader books to help teach my five-year-old daughter to read, we have been working through the McGuffey Primer and loving it, primarily because the lessons are short enough to keep my daughter's attention and to allow her to feel at the end of each lesson that she has accomplished something.

I particularly appreciate the "Reviews" that come after each set of four or five lessons. No pictures means that the child must entirely depend on her/his memory of the words from previous lessons and on phonetics in order to make her/his way through the review.

One slight drawback would be that for some of the lessons, the story line is not clear enough to catch the child's attention. On some occassions, my daughter reads all the words, but she fails to comprehend the lesson's meaning. This is rare, but more modern readers do a better job of making their stories engaging enough that the child forgets how "hard" it is to read, and instead races through the book to find out what happens.

Nonetheless, I think that parents who are serious about teaching their children to read and who understand the value of supplementing their child's school curriculum, will appreciate the Primer and subsequent titles in the McGuffey series. At the same time, they will expose themselves and their children to a bit of Americana!

My father started me out on these books at the age of 4 years old. I managed to be one of the top students all throughout elementary and junior high...(I rebelled a bit in high school) Either way I was always 2-3 years ahead in my reading and writing abilities. I highly suggest these books to ANY parent who wishes to enrich the education of their children.

What a refreshing series targeted towards princesses between the ages of 6-9 and an answered prayer for an alternative to Junie B. Jones!!! (Don't get me wrong, I love Junie! But... Well, if you've read Junie, you know where I'm going with this.)

These books deal with topics such as: true beauty, peer pressure, friendships, patience, and everything else that a little girl might have to tackle! Not to mention... these books are HILARIOUS! Lori has truly mastered the ability to not only put herself into a child's mind, but writes in a casual form that every little girl will understand.

As if that isn't enough... At the end of every book Lori has added a "Chatter Matters" section! What an awesome way to open up the lines of communication with our little ladies and Lori even brought in a few Bible verses to spark more curiosity and further discussions! And... "BLAM! Great Activity Ideas" section that ties in with each story! This is great!

My younger daughter and I had the pleasure of reading All Dressed Up and FELL IN LOVE with Meghan! We both agree that once your little girl picks the first book up, she'll cry out to read the rest!!! But don't take my word for it. Here's what my daughter has to say: "This book was so funny & cute. I think A LOT of kids will really like it!"

Lori Z. Scott created Meghan Rose, the bounciest girl in the world, in a series that begins with this book. Reading it I giggled and learned a bit, along with Meghan Rose, about patience.
Meghan needs, needs, needs a pair of K-K-K-Kangaroozies, shoes that will help her bounce even higher than her usual light hearted stepping. Since the shoes are expensive, she attempts to make herself a pair, with hilarious results. After time in prayer, Meghan aims to earn the money to buy them herself, in a fun scheme involving a bag of potatoes, that she transforms into Spuddy Buddies.
The book has directions for fun activities in a section at the end.
Ages 4-10.

Even adults struggle with learning patience. How do you teach patience to a young child? From watching the television, Meghan Rose has been lured to want the latest shoe crazy. Throughout this well-written story, she tried different "schemes" to get these shoes yet doesn't succeed.

In the final pages, Meghan prays, "Hello God, I'm back. Listen, I understand making someone wait a long time for something important like a baby, although that still bothers me a little. But why should we wait to buy things our parents can get right away? Why wait for anything?"...As she considers the answer to her questions it comes, "I bet waiting helps you learn patience. And patience helps you control yourself."

Whether your child is starting to read or loves to hear you read aloud, I recommend MEGHAN ROSE HAS ANTS IN HER PANTS. Author Lori Z. Scott has written a fun book yet slips in a powerful message for the 6 to 9 year old target market.

The Meghan Rose series by Lori Z. Scott is the next "Junie B. Jones" books with a spiritual twist in children's early reader books. Lori Z. Scott has done a wonderful job bringing children into the world of Meghan Rose, who is a first grader learning life's lessons, one step at a time.

In the second book, Meghan Rose Has Ants in Her Pants, Meghan learns what it means to have patience. After seeing a commercial on TV advertising shoes that make you extra bouncy called K-K-K-K-Kangaroozies, Meghan decides she has to own a pair. When she asks her mom, Meghan gets the dreaded "Maybe". Later Meghan finds out her best friend, Kayla owns a pair. Now Meghan is really having a hard time getting Kangaroozies off her mind. Her pre-test in spelling is affected, she can't sit still, and nothing Meghan does seems to convince Mom to buy them. Meghan comes up with different plans to get a pair, or make a pair, of her own. In the end, Meghan learns, after a thoughtful talk with God, that sometimes waiting teaches us a life lesson.

Warning for those who don't like to read books with a spiritual take, praying and talking with God is mentioned. For those who are not religious, it's done in a very tactful manner, and only adds to the storyline about learning to wait. At the end of the book, you'll find a Q &A. This is a great tool to get children thinking about what they learned in this fun-loving book. Also, Meaghan Rose shares her craft ideas from the book. Kids will enjoy making them just like Meaghan Rose did.

Stories for Children Editor, VS Grenier

I enjoyed this book very much. It teaches lessons that apply to kids today about wanting things and being patient and practical. In addition to providing important messages, this book is also very fun to read. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. Absolutely awesome!

I checked this book out of the library for my 16 month old son. He absolutly loves this book! It quickly became his "lovey" and he carries it everywhere. So I knew I had to own a copy of this book and have it on hand, before the library's copy was due back! The mice are drawn so cute! There's mice on almost every page, some are bigger and some are smaller. My son points out all the mice on all the pages, even the small somewhat "hidden" mice. They story has great rhyming text, it's great for learning animals too. The story is about pet shop animals and it says how the other animals smell, are loud, or shed...but mice make the best pets! After reading this book, when my son's older...I can see him asking for a pet mouse! Ha ha.

This is one of my son's favorite books. It is very well written and the rhymes in it flow nicely. I recommend this book to anyone with children who are learning to read.

My son Nathan is very stubborn and doesn't like to look at "words"...just pictures. Until now! This book has enticed him to look at the word to tell him about what is going on in the picture. For example one page may say "snake" when you see the snake and another page used the word "boa". So he looks at the letters as clues for what to say....Hooray! He may just read one day afterall! Thanks you.

Beautiful illustrations and great rhyming text! Perfect for beginning readers. BUY IT!

I am a kindergarten teacher. My children look forward to "story time" each day. When I read this book to them, they enjoyed the humor. Now, each day, they want me to read the book again. Also, they ask to borrow the book during "DEAR" time, and read it on their own. This book is fantastic! Thanks you to Charles Ghigna! Not only is he a wonderful children's author but he is also my cousin!

This is by far the cutest, most creative book I have ever had the pleasure of reading! My own three little monsters choose this book every night for their bed time reading. Not only does the creative story of three monsters making their mother a Birthday Breakfast of worms on toast pull both child and adult in but the artistic layout of the Dickinson's keeps the eyes interested as well. Every page is full of detail and lovingly crafted to keep all of its audience entertained! Cheers to Monster Cake and the all of Dickinson's work!

The recipe for this book works. Stir together three little monsters' love for their mother with some awfully ghastly ingredients (adults will wrinkle their noses while their kids squeal with delight), sprinkle in the stealth needed to surprise the mother monster and add a dash of macabre imagination, and the results is a delightful concoction that will have the kids clamoring for more.

The adorable little monsters on the cover of "Monster Cake" immediately attracted my little girl's attention. She even bypassed her current favorite, Blue's Clues, when she got an eyeful of this one. Uh oh, I think my weird taste in books may be catchy!

The story is a cute one with a sweet message at its heart. Three young siblings (who happen to be the most precocious little monsters) awaken early and decide to bake their mom a birthday cake. Only, since they're monsters, the cake isn't your typical Betty Crocker variety. They mix together all sorts of gross items including green smiling slugs (!) that fascinated my four year old, along with her six year old brother. The monsters make a big mess while having a blast along the way and Mom has a fabulous birthday celebration.

This is a fun book for all but especially for little ones because there is very little text and colorful, bold, funny illustrations that pre-schoolers can relate to. Many pages contain no text at all and my four year old loved making up a "story" for these pages. For the beginning reader the text is easy to pronounce. I recommend this book for those looking for an entertaining family reading experience. It encourages creativity and also a love of storytelling. ~ Laurie Shallah

This is an especially fun book for young cooks-to-be, just hope they don't use the same ingredients! This is a good read over and over, but the illustrations are better.

Rebecca Dickinson's lastest book is a delight! I use Monster Cake in my classroom to stir up the imagination for some Halloween writing and drawing fun. My students love Ms Dickinson's descriptions and illustrations of icky ingredients which they then use to brainstorm, write, and illustrate their own recipes for Monster Cake!

I bought this book for my six year old grandson. I live out of state and have not seen the book, but my daughter says the book is very nice. My grandson says he loves the book.

My six year old grandson and I liked the book very much. He has used some of the methods on his parents.

I just love Prelutsky. I have many of his books and read them to my grandchildren as often as I can. His use of language is so adventurous, so creative and often very funny. It really gets the kids to think and hopefully be adventurous and creative in their own use of our wonderful English language.I must confess I often read out aloud to myself, I love a bedtime story even though I am over 60. Rhythmic language and a bit of a giggle really helps me sleep.

I have been reading this book to my 3 year old son every night for the past week. He is a TERROR to get to bed despite keeping him in his regular routine. After we started this book all I would have to say after bath is "time for Parents think I'm sleeping" and he hops in bed without a fuss. The poems are pretty cute and the pictures are a delight. I think he likes it bc he thinks he's getting one over on his parents just like the boy in the book. I am thrilled with this book and intend on getting more from this author.

This collection of poems relate to bedtime and nighttime. While much shorter than Jack's better known collections ("New Kid on the Block", etc.), I believe the emotional range is broader in this book. This book includes wistful poems and cutesy-scary poems, that would feel out of place in Jack's funny poems compilations. Of course, there are many funny poems, but the real gems are the others.

High marks to Jack.

This book is a clever and funny version of the "Night before Christmas". The kids think its funny and as a mother, I found it to be VERY true to real life on the nights before the big day, but with a comical twist!! The price is right...we gave these to friends and neighbors instead of holiday baking!

...this is their favorite Christmas story.

As a housewarming gift, I picked up a pair of Christmas books for my friends' children last year. This year, their mother again thanked me for "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas." It had become her kindergartener's and pre-schooler's favorite. In fact, it was the only story the pre-schooler wanted to hear.

For fun, I ordered myself a copy. It is now my favorite too. Following the cadences of "The Night Before Christmas," readers are invited along to witness a typical, loving family's Christmas challenges. Page after page of endearing illustrations will enchant readers of all ages. Not even the most dedicated Grinch can resist.

Don't wait another year to pick up this great story.

We love this book. My three year old daughter loves the story and illustrations as do I. It also hits home as a parent during this frantic time of seeming unbridled avarice. Love is the best gift of all. Buy this book today and snuggle up with the ones you love for a hilarious spin on the classic poem. Happy Holidays!

I am an English teacher and a new mother and I love this book. The way it plays on the Clement Moore poem is so clever and well done. I also love the way it is humorous and fun, and yet has a sentimental and sweet ending and ties back to the original Christmas poem. I would recommend this book to all mothers and children who like to read together!

This twist on Clement C. Moore's Christmas poem is one that parents can really identify with! It's about all the things that can and will go wrong during Christmas preparations, like burnt cookies. Yet the spirit of the holiday wins out. My daughter really likes this book and I think it is a pleasure to read to her. I don't agree with the editorial review that it, "...scans awkwardly and does not easily lend itself to sharing aloud." I love the illustrator's style too. It's a very cute and clever book that is worth having in your Christmas library.

Night Driving is the book we want written somewhere in our life story. The narrative succeeds with understatement, silence, and seemingly simple dialogue. The strong arm of a father around his son's shoulder and life makes this book truly enjoyable.

This is a neat childrens story about a boy and his father who take a long road trip at night. McCarty's soft illustrations really add a lot to the story. He is one of the best illustrators I've seen.

wow, never thought of reading children books, but this one has me giving a second thought. The radio station playing, trucks zipping by, the diner open all night, and the faded gray illustrations, all make this illustrated book great for adults alike.

This book is one of the few truley magical books. There is nothing better than to lie in bed reading this book to my 7-year old son. The book could almost be thought of as two books - the text and the pictures. You can imagine everything by the very descriptive text - it takes you on the journey of father and son as they travel "to the mountains". The text is even paced and allows you (and your son) to travel along with them. The pencil drawings are of a quality not usually found in children's books. Just take a look at the pictures without the words and the same magical feeling comes to you. This is probably a book for fathers and sons but anyone who is interested in quality children's books will love this one. Highest recomendation.

"Are we almost there?" asks the child-narrator on the first page. "Oh no, it's a long way. We'll do some night driving," says Dad. In John Coy's first picture book, we journey along with a father and son as they make their way to the mountains for the boy's first camping trip. As the hours pass, they find plenty to do together: listen to baseball games on the radio, sing cowboy songs ,watch for deer munching grass at the side of the road. When the car gets a flat tire, there is time to see, away from the lights of the city, a sky thick with stars. Although Peter McCarty has previously illustrated children's books (Mary on Horseback, most recently), this is his first picture book. His soft charcoal portraits of father and son work well with Coy's spare text. He magically transforms white space into cool moonlight-reflecting off Dad's baseball cap as he leans against the car watching his son, pooling in the prairie grass, and cocooning the car as it glides through the darkness. "Making good time" was a phrase my father liked to use when we took road trips-he meant we were getting there as fast as humanly possible with emergency stops only and no dawdling. But as Night Driving gently reminds us, good time is always passing. We can either kill it, or spend it like a jar of saved-up pennies.

I highly recommend this book not only for people that are wanting to learn networks, but also for networking professionals that need a handy reference guide. The book is an easy to understand basic introduction to networking with Nortel products. Kudos to the authors.

This book has already proven to be an invaluable resource. It's coverage of Nortel's data product line is thourough without being overwhelming to the novice networker. Nortel has got some great products out there and this book lives up to it's name by providing an excellent beginner's reference to those products. The world is a whole lot bigger than a Cisco-centric point-of-view might lead you to believe. I know my horizons have been expanded.

As a new manager working with Nortel products, I have found this book quite useful. It is not necessary for me to be able to configure a router. I do need to have a general understanding of the technology and the products. This book has accomplished both of these requirements for me. I would recommend this book to any person looking to gain a clearer understanding of networking in general. Although it does cover Nortel products, it covers the technology in general, so this book would be valuable regardless of whose product is being used.

Certainly one of the better beginners' guides out there. I was able to read most of it in one sitting. Found that the read was easy and less "mind numbing" than most computer/networking documents. I would recommend this guide to anyone that wants to get into networking, switches, & routers. Maybe you're just interested in understanding the fundamentals of Nortel networking or LAN/Wan technologies.... Get this book!

I received my copy of this book less than a week ago, and I am very impressed with the way the book was presented. I work in a "Cisco shop", but this book has offered insight to some of the wonderful offerings that Nortel has. I have read some of the other beginners guides out there, and can honestly say that this book is the easiest to understand and to follow. There are many boring books out there, this is NOT one of them. I read it cover to cover and will do so again. I highly recommend this book for all networking professionals. A must have!

If you know anything about the Peanuts Gang, you cannot help but lve them. In this collection Schulz, has outdone himself again. Anyone seeking a good laugh or a smile brought to a cloudy day should take a look at this.

Here it is, a book which contains all of the Peanuts cartoons created in the year 1991. Some jokes come out flat, but most get smiles, chuckles, or even out-loud laughter for their creativity, orignality..and a good punchline always helps.

Sure, computer-generated strips are the new thing, but you can't really mess with the strip that changed comics...

I could not put this book down. A whole year of this comic is so funny. i know that i can relate to everyone of the penuts gang.

This is a most charming collection of the antics of the round-headed kid we all love. With comics from a year's worth of newspapers, including the Sundays, you'll have enough to read to keep you entertained, over and over again. Not only are the Peanuts Gang funny, but inspiring, touching, sad, and as the title indicates, sometimes even profound. With Linus' wise advice, Lucy's sassy attitude, and Snoopy's admirable imagination, Charles Shulz' creations give us insight to the most enigmatical yet simplest part of our lives: our childhoods. Read the comics once and laugh, but read them again, look into the words more, and see the other emotions buried underneath. Charles Shulz was truly a genius, and the world will miss him.

I enjoyed this so much that I read it in one sitting. I never realized how much more enyoyable the Peanuts strips would be when you read them one after another, rather than one-a-day!

Because I have my own wood shop and make toys for my grandkids I was attracted to this book when I first saw it. I have given it to my grandkids and to the grandkids of many of my friends and neighbors. The reports I haven gotten back from those who have received it tell me that it is their child's favorite book. The kids love the animals and especially the sounds the tools make. They also are able to learn the names of the tools used in the book. It just might spark an interest in creating wood objects for some of these children.

The fun noises, the familiar song, colorful illustrations and terrific ending make this a particularly good book to read to a group of children.

It is as good as a new one, but at an awesome price. Thanks!!

We came across this in our daughter's playgroup and had to own it -- it's a lovely version of the old song but integrates "non-standard" gender views by letting female animals take charge in the woodshop. The sounds accompanying each tool are wonderful, as are the illustrations. Our two-year old loves it and wants to spend more time in the garage now!

This book is definitely worth having. Our 2 1/4 year old son (who likes tools and loves music) loved the twist on a familiar and loved song. The depiction of Old MacDonald as a sheep and as a female!!!! who has a woodshop!!!! makes this a must have book to balance out, for both boys and girls, the lack of gender-neutral characters and over representation of gender-stereotypes that is ubquitious in both books and songs. The sounds used for the various tools are not that good so you may want to make up your own but otherwise the pictures and text are good and what Old MacDonald and the animals are building makes for a cute surprise ending.