"Guidebook to Better Reading" is a paperback worktext designed to improve the word recognition and comprehension skills and the reading vocabulary and rate of students reading below their grade level. The worktext contains 30 lessons, each including phonics and word attack exercises, a short action or mystery story, and recall and comprehension questions pertaining to the story. In the first 5 lessons, the teacher reads all of the selection aloud to the students. Gradually, throughout the program, the teacher reads a smaller portion of each story while the portion the student reads lengthens until he or she reads the entire article or chapter. Also included are a diagnostic phonics and comprehension test and a progress test.

The specified reading level includes grades 2 and 3, and the specified interest level includes the intermediate and junior high grades. Student responses include verbal responses and responses written in the worktext. The publisher has stated that teacher involvement should continue to some degree throughout the program. A series of 6 supplementary readers containing suspense and adventure stories is available to accompany the worktext. These readers are written on reading levels of grades 2 through 6 and may be begun after lesson 15 in the Guidebook to Better Reading worktext has been mastered. A teacher's manual is available for the worktext and for the supplementary readers. AEJ, 1-76.