In this book, the authors address children, teens, and young adults with dyslexia and "other reading difficulties." They clearly state their purpose on p 3:

"Hopefully this book will help you to understand why you learn the way you do, and what strategies you can use to take control of your reading difficulties."

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone of any age. I didn't want to write a negative review because books that offer help and affirmations to kids with dyslexia and other reading disorders are needed, and the more such books there are to choose from, the more likely it is that a kid will find a book that works for them. Unfortunately, there are too many problems with this book for it to be helpful to most, and in fact, it may be harmful: a kid may try to muddle through this book and get so discouraged that they would be unwilling to try other books that are more helpful. I'll try to make this review detailed so I can explain its good points as well as its shortcomings.

The book is short (114 pages not counting the reference section, but the pages have really wide margins), but the chapter on assistive technologies (Chapter 6) is probably already outdated. It occurred to me that this book might actually be useful to adult learners of English as a second language (ESL), but there are too many idioms for this book to help someone not already fluent in English (e.g. as on p 20: "The flip side of decoding is encoding."). Maybe this book could help adults who are fluent in English and are learning to read.

Actually, the audience for this book is not well-defined; the publisher's website indicates the book is for grades 3-8 while the amazon page for this book suggests grades 5-11 (or ages 10-16). The writing throughout the book is infused with humor more appropriate to 10- or 11-year-olds, while anyone 13 or older would probably roll her eyes, feel patronized, and put the book down without finishing it. Yet the academic-style citations and the complex (and sometimes convoluted) sentence structures make the book too complicated to hold the attention of readers younger than 16, especially for kids with reading difficulties.

The book is not a total wash. The authors do a good job of answering questions like "What does it mean to read?" (Chapter 1) and "What is a reading disability?" (Chapter 2). These chapters establish a clear foundation for kids to understand their experiences when they try to read. Kids are encouraged throughout the book to think of themselves as being different, not stupid:

"Nobody is born automatically being able to read; everyone needs to be taught. Why, then, is it easy for lots of kids and not so easy for you? Part of the problem is that everyone starts out being taught to read in the same way, but for some people, this doesn't match the way their brains learn." (p2)

and

"Whatever name you give to them, the reading difficulties that you experience do not mean that you are lazy or stupid. Remember, part of the definition of dyslexia says that your reading difficulties are unexpected because you are smart and capable in other areas." (p19)

and

"Remember that you are not alone: millions of people have the same difficulty with reading that you do. Don't be embarrassed to ask for help or to use strategies that your friends or classmates might not be using." (p27)

The most useful part of the book is Chapter 4, How I Learn; the writing here is clear, direct, and uncomplicated. The writers have simplified the concepts presumably to make them accessible even to young readers. This chapter covers: learning styles (e.g. visual learners, auditory learners, kinesthetic learners, and tactile learners), metacognition, strategies for the various learning styles, multiple intelligences, and executive dysfunction. The authors offer great, thorough lists of things kids can do to make reading easier for them, one list for each learning style (e.g. visual learners are encouraged to study in a quiet environment, but auditory learners are encouraged to play background music).

The discussions in Chapter 5 of reading by classifying the letters in a word as vowels (V) or consonants (C) and then using rules to break the string of Vs and Cs into syllables ... it's all difficult to follow, even for an adult. There are no diagrams or exercises to help kinesthetic or tactile learners to practice this complex decoding strategy. The "rules" are explained in a "printed word intensive" way. The authors should have used their own lists of learning style tips throughout the book, but especially in this section. Why not include drawings and exercises tasking readers with doodling about the rules they are reading? Why not direct the reader to come up with a rhyme to remember the rules being discussed? Why not diagram the process of decoding a word like "comprehension" from letters to strings of Vs and Cs to syllables and ask the reader to trace the process with a finger? Why not ask students to tap or click their tongue while going through strings of letters?

The authors do not guide readers through this system of decoding words using any of the techniques they suggested for the various learning styles, as if, having listed those techniques in Chapter 4, the reader is on her own to find ways to implement those techniques. There is a sense of "one size fits all" with regards to the system of decoding words and its utility to people with reading difficulties. This emphasis on decoding words by linking letters to syllables places too much emphasis on word-level comprehension. The authors made a big deal in Chapter 1 about the importance of "phonics" and "phonemic awareness" to the act of reading, but that didn't figure in this Chapter 5 discussion at all. I am left with the impression that "I can't see the forest for all the trees," i.e. I can't read a sentence/paragraph/book because of all this focus on consonants, vowels, and syllables.

I could go on and on about this book -- I've gone through it many times -- but this review is already ridiculously long. I will say that I have more criticisms; all together, I found so many faults with this book that I would not recommend it to anyone. ( )

This book is a really good read for parents and children with Dyslexia. However, that is what this book is geared towards. My son falls into other reading difficulties. This book didn't seem to be very helpful in that aspect.

Page 1: "This book is written just for you" ... "You will have a better understanding of how you learn, and you will have a plan of attack to take control of your reading difficulties".

The format is pretty cool, shorter lines, bigger fonts, only a good 100 pages. However, I think they could have done an effort choosing a more Dyslexia appropriate font. I'm not dyslexic and I have a hard time focusing on the text. The complex technical terms could have been highlighted in some form.

For the content, I concoure with other reviewers. It might not be directly appropriate to any student without adult supervision and support. Conversely, if read by the adult, it's quite easy to handpick concepts and ideas and convey them to the student in his/her own language.

Overall, a great Dyslexia 101 book for someone who wants a quick overview of the subject before digging into serious, dry and technical studies. ( )

What a great book! I love how it was broken down into easy to read chunks, with lots of visuals, text boxes, and bullet points. My daughter was recently diagnosed with dyslexia, and I got a lot of great tips for helping her out in this book.

However, even with the text boxes and bullet points, I just don't see her reading through this. I do plan to read it to her, though. And it IS a great resource for parents and teachers in helping their kids/students with reading difficulties.

This is a wonderful, useful book. I love the way the topics are presented, with lots of text boxes and different sized types and pictures to break up the monotony for a learning challenged reader. I also like how the authors are addressing the child, the tween, the teenager who is reading it, and not just the parents thereof. Specific tools are suggested to help students figure out strategies to get what they need to learn. The authors bios prove that they are credible resources. My only disappointment is I could not interested my own learning challenged child in reading it, even after I agreed to read the book to her if she would just read the first page. I'm hoping that she will change her mind. I plan to leave the book out where she can peruse it privately when I'm not there. Hey, a mother can dream... ( )