THE BASIC READERS TEACHERS EDITION, PRE-PRIMER PROGRAM (also Titled GUIDEBOOK FOR THE PRE-PRIMER PROGRAM OF THE BASIC READERS)

New York: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1941. Hardcover. Good Plus to Very Good. This is a copy of the Teacher's Guide for the reading readiness program of Scott Foresman's "Curriculum Foundation Series," which provided the Dick and Jane stories to thousands of American elementary school children for nearly 40 years from kindergarten through third grade. The guide includes lesson plans for the first three books ("We Look and See," "We Work and Play," and "We Come and Go," in the series as well as the texts of each of the books complete with all illustrations. Originally co-authored by William S. Gray and William H. Elson and issued by Scott Foresman in the 1930s, this teacher's guide is for the Basic Readers series first issued in 1941, which brought Dick and Jane, Sally and Spot to about 80 percent of Amereica's school children until almost 1980. This copy is an early printing, showing only copyright dates of 1940 and 1941. About 6 x 8 inches, 271 pages plus 170 pages for the three texts of the stories listed above. Bound in tan cloth-covered boards with black lettering on front cover and spine. Boards show only light wear at corners; end pages show margincal stains related to aging and gluing in manufacturing. Text edges show some foxing and soiling. Boards and text are otherwise complete, clean and unmarked. No tears, no creasing, no underlining or highlighting. No other significant or noticeable damage or flaws beyond the moderately foxed edges. While sometimes criticized for overly simple and boring content and for a lack of diversity in its stories of well-fed, middle-class white children, this teacher's guide remains an accurate reflection of its time for both its stories and how they were supposed to be taught, a collectable and a small piece of educational history.