by Cynthia A. Barnhart (Editor), Robert K. Barnhart (Editor)
Originally published in 1961, Let's Read is a simple and systematic way to teach basic reading. Developed by noted linguist Leonard Bloomfield, the book is based on the alphabetic spelling patterns of English. Bloomfield offered an antidote to the idea that English is a difficult language to learn to read by teaching the learner to decode the phonemic sound-letter correlations of the language in a sequential, logical progression of lessons based on its spelling patterns. The learner is first introduced to the most consistent (alphabetic) vocabulary and then to increasingly less alphabetic and less frequent spelling patterns within a vocabulary of about 5,000 words. The second edition of Let's Read brings Bloomfield's innovative program into the twenty-first century without changing the sequence of exercises but with revised text and an attractive new design and layout.
Author Biography
Cynthia A. Barnhart is a dictionary maker with a special interest in new words and usages. She has been involved with Let's Read since its initial publication and was the first Barnhart family member to teach a child to read working from the manuscript of Let's Read.
Robert K. Barnhart was a dictionary maker who created the original reading passages for Let's Read. In addition to the 1976 edition of the World Book Dictionary, his most important dictionaries were the Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology and the First, Second, and Third Barnhart Dictionary of New English.