My recommendation is that you use this book as a supplement to a good phonics program. For example, if your child knows her letters and her basic sounds, and she is beginning to read phonetically in her school program, you can then use this book to help build confidence and add to her sight-reading vocabulary. It'll give you lots of opportunity to praise progress too.

My daughter started this book at home when she was six and beginning first grade. She had a solid grounding in phonics, but reading was still pretty slow and tedious. It only took about five weeks to fully master the book and read any part at a relatively rapid pace. I built a reading vocabulary list in the order that words appeared in the book (see note below). We went over the list of learned words before each session, which kept her from forgetting faster than she was learning.

The fact that the book is a compendium of three earlier volumes makes it a little awkward in its progression of adding sight words. The hardest pages to read are about two-thirds of the way through the book at the end of the second volume. In fact, the best approach may be to read from page one to page 79 (about half way through the second volume), then jump to the start of the third volume and skip back and forth from that point as you alternately work through the third volume and the second half of the second. As confusing as this sounds, you'll understand immediately once you see the content.

I gave this book four stars out of five, because it's about as good as it can get without being phonics oriented. It's a terrific bargain with lots of content for the dollar and a beautiful binding. I only wish there were a phonics-based book that made learning sight words come so easily.

Good luck and God bless!
Tim Naff


A true gem returns!   May 22, 2004
 27 out of 30 found this review helpful

Oh, Oh.
Look, look!
See, see!
Look what Mother found at the bookstore.
See Baby read to Mother.
Clever, clever Baby!

I remember my teacher reading a few of these stories in 1966. When I saw this book at our local bookstore, I immediately snatched it up. That night at bedtime, I marched my 4 & 3/4 year-old daughter upstairs, pulled out this book and said, "I am tired of reading to you, so tonight you will read to me!" After helping her sound out the word "Oh Oh" and "Look and See" imagine her surprise and mine when my daughter reads the first story all by herself and with her new-found confidence, began to devour the following stories over the next sixty pages! I was so stunned by this success, I could not believe it. Playing an active role in teaching your child to read is an absolute thrill! This book is a true gem. My daughter loves the pictures that go with the stories, gentle pieces of Americana artwork in themselves, not like the flat, highly-stylized cartoons in children's books today that may satisfy the whimsy of adults, but don't capture the attention or spark the imagination of children. Our favorite stories are when Baby Sally puts too much of Mother's powder on Tim, Spot and Puff and when Dick and Jane race Baby Sally to the market and overturn their wagon. Please buy this book for all your little loved ones in your life. I am excited to see there are other books in this series, too.


Why did they ever go away?   January 8, 2004
 23 out of 24 found this review helpful

One of my daughters has been having a terribly hard time learning to read in school (and at home). It seems to be very hard for her to remember words that she's seen before, even "knew." She has come to resist reading practice as a form of torture.

The book she loves the most is this "Dick and Jane" compilation. The simple phrases, the often-mocked repetition of words, the bright and pleasant drawings--they have been perfect for her. We were amazed when she eventually proved able to read it all from cover to cover. She was so proud of herself, and loves the pretty yellow book so much, that she brought it to school to read to her teacher. Whenever we ask her to "read a book," her new but already-beloved Dick and Jane book is the one she reaches for. It's not Shakespeare and I guess the D&J series fell out of favor with the educational establishment, but if the choice is between a child proudly reading "See Spot run! Run, Spot, run!" or gloomily reading nothing at all, I'll gladly go with Spot (and Dick and Jane and Sally and the perfectly-dressed mother and father!)

I feel like the publisher has a winner here and I would buy every reprint compilation that it chose to sell. I'm going to buy all the other D&J texts that I can find. They've certainly been a success in our home.


Tried and True -- Put D&J back in the Classroom   January 28, 2004
 12 out of 13 found this review helpful

I used to be a little chagrined to admit I learned to read in Kindergarten (1964) with Dick and Jane! It was almost "out of fashion" then -- in Grade 1 I remember the teacher introducing something "new" called phonics that was much more difficult to master than "sight reading" had been. (By Grade 1 I was already reading chapter books such as "Honey Takes a Trip" using my D&J skills.) So, when my own Kindergartener was not having much success with "Bob Books" and was in fact expressing great frustration, I was worried. I thought it was her "readiness" -- I never dreamed it might be the approach I'd selected. That became instantly apparent when she got her yellow D&J anthology. By the end of the first night she was reading stories. When Grandma later gave her the blue D&J anthology, she read the entire book that night out loud to Grandma! She still resists the Bob Books but night after night she's in her bed reading and re-reading D&J to her animals. Guess success feels good to her, too. And, her reading vocabulary is bigger than her school-mates. It's a shame that School Boards have still not put D&J back in the classroom!


What a gem!   February 24, 2004
 11 out of 13 found this review helpful

I was disturbed to see that my 4 year old was not being taught any sort of phonics in his Pre-K environment. We have the Leap Frog Twist 'N Shout Phonics, but I have found that the sound quality isn't the best and it is sometimes difficult to hear the correct pronunciation. He would get frustrated and lose interest.
My husband and I talked about how we had learned with "Dick & Jane", so I thought I would give it a try. My son and I sat down for 20 minutes as he eased through the first stories. He then gathered the rest of the family and read the first 6 stories, tripping only on one word. No one was more thrilled than my son - so thrilled that he called his grandparents and read it again to them!
We put it down for 2 days (just to make sure that he wasn't memorizing) and he picked up it up and read it all again without issue.
Get this book!