This is my second review for All About Spelling (now known as All About Reading) this school year, through the TOS Crew.  There are a few companies that seem to really STAND OUT in terms of their professionalism, customer service, product preparation and quality.  This company is one of them.  They have spared no expense to produce quality materials that our whole family has used and enjoyed.

The Beehive Reader goes right along with the All About Spelling Level 1 reading program and has won the silver medal in the prestigious Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards! It is a great beginning reader for your child who is in their first stages of reading.  The book has a hard cover (one of the nicest bindings I have seen on a children’s books).  The pictures in the book are lovely, however, the pictures do not “trigger” the child to guess the word on the page.  They truly have to read the words, which is helped by a soft underline under the words, which helps the child to follow along and track as they read.  The font size is large but not overwhelming and the font easy to read.  The stories use letters in a sequential fashion so your child is reading words using the letters he has already studied and mastered, so this cuts down on the frustration level.

My 6-year-old is still struggling with learning to read, so we have suspended the All About Spelling program while we incorporate a reading program highly recommended to me by a dear friend, “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.”  Once he has mastered 50 lessons of this book I will begin the All About Spelling program once again and incorporate these readers into the lesson plans.  Note:  The Beehive Reader is also a stand-alone reader, so you do not have to be using the All About Spelling program.

My older kids enjoy reading this to their little brother, and of all the readers we currently have, this one is his favorite.  The Beehive Reader can be purchased online for $19.95.  I normally would not pay this price for a reader, however, if you have several children, this book will easily last through several children and could even be passed on because the quality is so good.

If you would like to read my review on the All About Spelling program, click here.  The The Beehive Reader 1 book is part of the new All About Reading program. By the end of 2010, there will be four more readers and a teacher’s manual. In fact, the books are being illustrated right now!  We will have more news on this later in the spring.

Note:  I was given this product in exchange for my honest opinion only.  No compensation was received for this review.