Come! Let's Read With Dick and Jane! (2005, Paperback, Package)

This is a collection of 12 paperbacks. My review is on Volume 12 only. I am writing it here because I could not find the volumes listed individually and I think that it is important people understand the content of each book and where it originally came from.

"Fun with Dick and Jane" is the last book in a series of 12 "Read with Dick and Jane" books. There are 32 pages; each has color illustrations and repetitive text for the early reader. There are 6 stories.

The content of this book (©2004) is reprinted from earlier Dick & Jane books that were used in schools decades ago. This book was made by combining parts of 2 different schoolbooks: the 1940 edition of "Fun with Dick and Jane" & the 1951 edition of "The New Fun with Dick and Jane."

For those who may not be familiar with the ORIGINAL SCHOOLBOOKS from which these stories were reprinted, I have gone through the pages, comparing each picture (and text) to the original and noted differences.

The 1st story "Look Up" is also the 1st story in the 1951 and 1956 editions of "The New Fun with Dick and Jane." The text & illustrations are reprinted well, but the picture quality is not as crisp & sharp as the original. You would have to compare the books side by side to notice the difference. Everything is enlarged slightly. The viewable area of pages in this book is approximately 5.75" X 9" whereas the original book had a slightly smaller viewable area (5.5" X 8").

The 2nd story "Who Is It?" was the 3rd story in the ©1951 "The New Fun with Dick and Jane." The story is not taken from the ©1956 edition because in that year all the illustrations had been revised. The text however is identical. It is important to note that one sentence has been eliminated. On the 1st page of the story, the next to last line should read "You can see." (The original version had 6 sentences on this page.)

The 3rd story "Something Pretty" is reproduced from the ©1951 or ©1956 edition of "The New Fun with Dick and Jane." This story occurs 5th in the originals. Again, they did a good job in reprinting the illustrations, BUT true Dick and Jane fans and collectors will note the difference in quality of pictures. Perhaps this was due to the slight enlargement.

The 4th story "Where is Sally?" is taken from the ©1951 edition of "The New Fun with Dick and Jane." It is not taken from the 1956 edition because although the text is identical, all the illustrations have been redrawn. It is the 8th story in the original books.

The 5th story "Jane Helps Mother" is taken from the ©1951 edition of "the New Fun with Dick and Jane" and not the ©1956 edition, because in the latter year, two of the five illustrations have been completely redrawn (although the text remains identical.) It occurs as the 9th story in the original book.

The 6th and last story in the book is "A Funny Ride." This is the only story taken from an older version of a Dick & Jane book. It is the 9th story in the ©1940 edition of "Fun with Dick and Jane."

Because the stories have been taken from various Dick and Jane editions, they aren't exactly in the order designed for a perfect curriculum (if you are teaching a child to read for example) but they are certainly better than nothing. If you cannot get original copies of the readers, then do buy this book. There are few other curriculums that are as charming.