Book excerpt: A wonderful introduction to early language arts skills, "First Start Reading" covers consonants, short & long vowels, common words, and manuscript priting. Simple, effective, and reasonable, this enjoyable curriculum accompanies the lessons with artist-drawn coloring pictures and drawing pages for every letter. Workbook A features coloring pages with items with the same beginning letter as the accompanying handwriting page; students trace letters and can draw their own picture. Short stories are included in the back (with room to again draw a picture), and a word mastery list is provided. Workbook B includes the letter pages, short stories, and word mastery list, as well as room to write in dictation exercises Workbook C features handwriting practice that focuses more on words, longer stories, and a word mastery list.