William Holmes McGuffeyMcGuffey Series (McGuffeys Eclectic Readers Series)

We are thrilled with the McGuffey Eclectic ReadersSeries! We first heard of them while watching an interview with Jim Rogers (highly successful international investor & financial commentator) when he was answering a question about what his daughters read. Being that we share similar educational philosophies with Mr. Rogers, we thought we'd get a set and see what they're like. Our children love them! They are simple and basic and effective!!! There isn't any mumbo-jumbo about self-esteem or similar lessons, which can be found elsewhere (in a plethora of children's storybooks). This is old school learning at its best...what our grandparents and great-grandparents used, which certainly did them well. In short, this is a great series! We highly recommend it for those families wanting a basck-to-basics, no nonsense learning tool for their children!For Reference:About Jim Rogers:Jim Rogers, a native of Demopolis, Alabama, is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Barron's, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and most publications dealing with the economy or finance.After attending Yale and Oxford University, Jim Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund, a global-investment partnership. During the next 10 years, the portfolio gained 4200%, while the S&P 500 rose less than 50%. Rogers then decided to retire - at age 37.In 1990-1992, Jim Rogers fulfilled his lifelong dream: motorcycling 100,000 miles across six continents, a feat that landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records. As a private investor, he constantly analyzed the countries through which he traveled for investment ideas. He chronicled his one-of-a-kind journey in Investment Biker: On the Road with Jim Rogers. Jim also embarked on a Millennium Adventure. He traveled for 1101 days on his round-the-world, Guinness World Record journey. Passing through 116 countries, he covered more than 245,000 kilometers, which he recounted in his book Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip. His latest book "A Gift to My Children: A Father's Lessons for Life and Investing" was published in 2009.

I received these today. The box is sturdy and the bindings and covers of the books also. The paper is a nice weight and the printing is very clear and sharp. I took a bunch of pics and will upload them. They did send me two of one book and not another, so I have to return and get another set. But the quality of the product is very nice. Pictoral Eclectic Primer - no pub date I could find in the book; original publisher was Winthrop B. Smith & Co.; Eclectic Primer - 1836; Eclectic First Reader - 1836; Eclectic Second Reader - 1836; Eclectic Third Reader 1837; Eclectic Fourth Reader - 1837. They did not send me the speller - but I got two copies of the pictoral primer. Hopefully I will get a complete set when I get the replacement. I will update this then.

package wrapped great, and wonderful books, so glad I got to purchase them.

I learned to read though these books and I highly recommend them. I'm buying a set because I am concerned about the way my daughter is being taught in school to read. These books place more of an emphasis on the letter sounds and the rules of grammar than on knowing the shape of the word. Which is much more helpful when you come across a word you don't know. I am an avid reader, I started reading through these books when I was 4 years old and I credit these books for giving me my love of reading. While they are a little old fashioned looking the content is superb.

I know the history of these books and how generations of children and young people were trained to think, and reason with these books. My pupil has been through two of them, but the others are still to be used as she advances in her understanding and vocabulary. We are looking forward to the challenges ahead.

If you're buying McGuffey, definitely get this original set rather than the updates one with the yellow/blue jacket. Perfect! My 6 year old already reads 2 grade levels above where he "should" be. The only thing I'd say is that I wish Amazon would tell you that you really do need the McGuffey Teacher/Parent Guide, the "Phonics Made Plain" Wall Chart and Flash Cards, and the Mott Media "A Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling" booklet in order to really know how to use this set of books. It tells you all about it in the teacher/parent guide, with step by step instructions on how to use them in harmony. Really a great system! Perfect.

I like the way this reader is divided by short, easy lessons. New words are added every lesson but old ones are repeated frequently for a built-in review. The grammar is a bit old fashioned but that's not a problem if you want to expose your child to quality written words. I have noticed my daughter using spoken language similar to what is written in the book.

This set of books is one I used with my children and have now bought again to use with my grandchildren. They cost more this time then when I bought them the first time but that didn't matter as they are just that good. I wanted to have them to use with my grandchildren, so I bought them again. Although designed to teach reading to children, adults will also enjoy the stories and will be surprised by how challenging the reading gets in the fifth reader.

I ended up ordering this because a previous set never showed up. I'm happy they didn't, for this set was much cheaper and in absolutely perfect new condition!I knew they were new just by looking at the binding... and then opening the books revealed the tell-tale cracks of brand new books being opened for the first time.The pages are of high quality material and the content even better.These books are gems and the teaching material are superb and certainly of higher standards than what our kids are fed today.We look forward to supplementing our children's education with these masterpieces.No regrets and we look forward to growing with these.Now to find the remaining books of the series....