At first I was a little frustrated that my early reader wasn't able to move past the first couple books. The series of printed books leaps to a new level quickly and a child just starting out needs more practice at the early levels than this series offers. I suggest Playful Pals and BOB books as better low-level practice material.But I've come to realize that if the child is doing the online exercises, with the help of an adult, the child will have more opportunities to play with each new skill level being taught. The exercises offer some of the practice a child will need to get through each book. The flash animations are also goofy and fun. My daughter has lots of fun playing with the exercises and learns something along the way.Particularly when we were introducing the silent e and long vowel sounds, I needed this kind of supplementary practice and teaching tool. The starfall animated exercises were engaging enough and offered the visual cues to make the light bulb go on for my daughter. And they're free! Plus the "click and drag" is super easy for a kid using a scroll pad on a laptop. The mouse was too difficult for my preschooler but she could do the scroll pad to navigate or manipulate the content on the screen.The books on their own are inadequate to move an early reader along from one stage to the next. So my recommendation is to invest in one of the other series like BOB Books or Playful Pals but to use all the great FREE content on Starfall's website to enhance this set of books. Then the paid content offers even more good material that adds up to a pretty good program.