Week-by-Week Homework for Building Reading Comprehension and Fluency, Grades 3-6: 30 Reproducible, High-Interest Passages for Kids to Read Aloud at HomeNWith Companion Activities

The author said that this book wass designed for 4th graders with reading problems. My kid had no reading problem and was about to enter 3 grade. I thought this book might be of the right level. But I was wrong. This book may be good for 2nd graders.
But if the level is good for your kid, the book itself is not bad. The articles are interesting. But still, I think "wordly wise 3000" is a better choice. The "wordly wise 3000 book A" is about the same level.

I am surprised other reviewers have not mentioned inaccuracies and errors in this book. For example, in the first story Mary Rose refers to the Arawak Indians as both the Arawak and the Arawaks. I consider this a big error considering the passage is only a few paragraphs long. The second story on the Pilgrims contains inaccuracies and many of the points she chooses do not support her thesis that parents are strict. Requiring children to stand at the dinner table is an example of parental strictness. Other examples were not at all related to strictness but instead to conditions of poverty.

The text is also fraught with typographical errors, some of which could be very confusing to a beginning reader. E.g. :"Then he returned home and happily at his dinner" (p. 32). Obviously this should read "ate" his dinner.

Additionally, many stories are overpunctuated. Some stories even have a double exclamation point in the title (e.g. Bananas!!).

Slang (improperly used at that) is another troubling element... a story on astronauts' water sources warns "Don't gross out!"

There are some inaccurate explanations. Rose's explanation of the use of italics is misleading. She italicizes words of foreign origin the first story. This use is correct, but her explanation of the use of italics does not correspond to the way she uses it.

There are positive aspects to this book, however. It clearly states the objectives for each section and has good questions to go with the passages. I also appreciated how the author related the content of the book to standardized assessments.

I absolutely love this book for both teachers or parents looking to improve reading skills. My daughter first came home with these stories from her 4th grade teacher and I loved them so much I bought a copy to use with the students I tutor. Now I'm teaching basic skills to fifth graders and do these stories one-on-one. Each story is intelligently written with a touch of humor and jam-packed with interesting facts. Topics include American History ("Thomas Jefferson and the Big Cheese"), fiction, biography, poetry, science (Star Trek!"), and popular culture. There is one reading skill to work on per story such as using context clues, italics, or main idea/supporting details. I've just ordered Mary Rose's other similar books for math and other reading levels. One word of caution: the vocabulary may be too advanced for a struggling third grader--best for grades 4-6 unless the child is already a fluent reader.

I've been assigning these readings weekly to my fifth graders for a few years now.
The parents and students love them as a quick, manageable, helpful activity they can do together in about 20 minutes.
They just return it, signed, at the end of the week, and I give them credit towards their reading grade.
Some parents don't take time to read with their children until it is assigned; so it's good to give them a reason to do it!

I bought this book last summer and used it with my 5th grade language arts students this past year. It contains some helpful usage and assessment ideas. The passages are divided into sections, all of them "kid-interesting" content. Each assignment features a particular reading skill and tips to the parent on how to help his/her child with the assignment. There is a place at the bottom of each assignment for both child and parent to sign. Certainly I recommend it to teachers, but I would also recommend it to parents who would like to help their children's reading skills but might be at a loss as to how to help them.