
Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons
by Siegfried Engelman, Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox, Elaine Bruner · first published 1986
31mentions
14recommended by
22HN commenters
2017–2026first – last mentioned
64% recommend36% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Phonics-based, scripted lessons that parents with no teaching background can follow step by step, with little planning. Parents report kids reading at 3 or 4 and ahead of grade level; suits parents of young kids.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.






PSA: If you have a 3-5 year-old child who isn't yet reading independently, you don't need any special training to teach them to read English. Just 15 mins per day a few days per week, and a single book: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671631985/ The only requirements are that you can read, and can spare 15 mins per day. I guess that applies to ~100% of HN readers. You could rely on your kid's school to…
on “In the Fight over How to Teach Reading, This Guru Makes a Major Retreat” ↗Just want to plug: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann I taught my daughter to read at 3. Amazing book.
on “I taught my 3-year-old to read like a 9-year-old” ↗We homeschool and my wife has taught 7 of our 8 kids using: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Highly recommended for parents with kids at the age to start reading.
on “How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers (2019)” ↗…mentioning this, but if you are the parent of a kid stuck in a horrible reading program like the ones in this program, you can take matters into your own hands with this phonics-centric, well researched book: "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". You don't have to be great at teaching, either. It gives you the exact prompts and feedback to use with your kids on every exercise. Lessons are short, repetitive, and you need to do it daily or near-daily.…
on “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” ↗…parent, I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how you foster reading amongst your students/children" From birth: We read to our son often. August 2020: I saw a recommendation on HN for the book "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons". Aug-Dec 2020: I spent 25-30 hours following that playbook. (15-20 mins per day, 5 days per week, 20 weeks.) August 2021: Our son (now almost 5yo) reads beyond the level that will be expected of him…
on “Launch HN: Litnerd (YC S21) – Teaching kids to read with the help of live actors” ↗The most life-changing book recommendation I got was from HN: 'Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons'.
on “Show HN: 40k HN comments mentioning books, extracted using deep learning” ↗6 weeks before my son's 4th birthday, someone on HN recommended the book 'Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons'. The book was life-changing for us. I wish I had known about it a year earlier. tl;dr when your child turns 3, read the first chapter of 'Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons' and then try…
on “Ask HN: First-time dad-to-be. What do you wish you'd known back then?” ↗We taught our daughter to read at age 3 using the "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" book mentioned elsewhere in this thread. I remember when we first brought her to kindergarten and mentioned that she was already a competent reader--her teacher seemed oddly insistent about downplaying…
on “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” ↗I can also personally vouch for Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It accelerated my ability to teach my kiddo to read by doing exactly what I wasn't an expert in - designing a reading pedagogy. We worked though the book in pandemic kindergarten and I can't help but…
on “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” ↗Two pieces of advice: 1) There is a book called 'Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons'. It works. Buy it and use it. 2) College can either be incredibly expensive and a poor investment or relatively inexpensive and a great investment. To make it the latter, set your sights on high…
on “Ask HN: First-time dad-to-be. What do you wish you'd known back then?” ↗"Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" is an amazing book. I taught my daughter to read before kindergarten. It works.
on “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” ↗> book: "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" > Anecdote: it worked for my kid. It worked for my kid, too. And it's worked for my friends' kids. And for at least one stranger who read a previous HN comment I wrote. If you have a child who is…
on “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” ↗+1 to "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". It's step by step and doesn't require a large amount of planning or thinking from the parent. Which means it's easy, which means you'll do it. Even when busy
on “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” ↗We also used "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" for both of our kids. It works outrageously well and we've recommended it to all our friends with young children.
on “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” ↗>"Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" Thats a great book and one i've used with my kids. My only issue with it is the pages are so 'busy' and jammed with content that it's hard for kids to focus, even with parent's guidance pointing at…
on “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” ↗