I dislike the Step Into Reading series because they don't seem to be actually designed for beginning readers to sound them out.  For example one of the Level One books has words like 'refridgerator' and 'sandwich'.  How many beginning readers do you know that can sound out long and hard words like that?

Unfortunately, i don't know of anything much better.  The BOB books are pretty good, they just lack interest sometimes.

We liked the Hello Readers but our favorite was the Reader Rabbit CD-Rom. All three of my kids used the Reader Rabbit and enjoyed it. I'm not familiar with the Bob series. If you have a good library you should check out some of their materials - they should have a wide selection. Our library also started a PREP series which stands for P(name of the library) Reading Enrichment Program. It is a series of 20 envelopes each containing four to seven books. Envelope one starts with easy, basic books, about 8 pages each. Each envelope progressively becomes more difficult until they reach Envelope 20 which is considered end of first grade reading material. They started the program about the time my youngest started reading and she did all 20 envelopes and reads about a grade level above her current grade. She loved them. It was fun for her to discover what books were in each envelope.

Here are some other series similiar to Step into Reading

1. Ready to Read

2. I can Read

3. Stepping Stone

4. All about Reading

5. Step into Classics

6. Rookie Readers  and Rookie Biographies

7. Easy Biographies

8. All aboard Reading

My son struggles in reading so I'm always looking for beginning readers that hold his interest.  Just type in a series title in the search and it will pull up alot of the titles.

We used whatever the library had available, but one series my daughter and I both enjoyed (because of its silliness) was the Flip-the-page rhyme-and-read books by Colin Hawkins: Zug The Bug, Pat The Cat, and Jen The Hen.

When my children where young, I also got them workbooks for the summer. They did a little each day and then the rest of the day was for them.

Now I am looking for books and workbooks for my grandchildren. So far I have found the following, but not sure how good they are yet. Maybe someone can give me some advice on them. I wanted Reading but also others, like Science, English & Math.  My 9 year old grandson loves science, so that interested me right off. I currently have some on my reminder list. So what I found were: 

 Brighter Child Workbooks,   Jumpstart,   I Can Read Books,   Easy to Read ,   Get Ready Books,   Puffin Easy to Read, 

All About Reading,     I Know It Books,     Skill Builder Workbooks,    Step Into Reading,    Bob,   Ready to Read,    Stepping Stone

I am sure there are alot more, but these are the ones I came across on this site. Does anyone have any opinions or suggestions on these?

My grandchildren are 4yr.  (going into K next year), 6yr.  in 1st grade, 9yr.  in 4th grade. The 9 year old has Aspergers, but very bright.

I do have 3 Brighter Child Series, they seem to me ok, but will show to my daugthers first.

Thanks and have read the posted remarks, so that is a start.

Jeanne