"Grandpa Karm" has written a 20-page first level reader, illustrated with black and white clip art and holy card reproductions. The typeface is large and clear and easy for a new reader to follow. Self-published and bound with staples and binding tape, the book may not hold up well to repeated readings by boisterous young readers.
The Catholic National Readers were originally published in the 1890s by Benziger Brothers Publishing. They have been reprinted by Savio Books and Neumann Press in 1997 in hardcover editions. They are frequently compared to the McGuffey's Readers and are illustrated with charming pictures of the sort you'd expect to see in "antique" books.
I found this volume very useful for early reading practice with my first-grade daughter. We were able to move into this after she finished the Bob Books. The advantage I saw to this particular primer in contrast with the later series (Cardinal or Faith and Freedom) was that it was much harder for her to guess the words because of either the pictures or the heavy repetition so common in other early readers. The passages are very short, although not particularly story like. Some of the phraseology was rather archaic, such as "Has a boy the jug? A boy has not the jug." (p.
Some of the stories in this one I have seen in the "Rare Catholic Stories and Poem" book from Catholic Heritage Curricula. They are delightful. Not all of the lessons in this book have the new words listed, but almost all have a language lesson after the story. It is like reading comprehension or teaching parts of speech.
This one contains stories like "St Elizabeth" and "Our Lady's Flower Society". This book contains dictation exercises with some of the lessons, as well as vocabulary, and comprehension.
This one contains stories like "St Agnes" by Cardinal Wiseman and "Pope Leo XIII". Besides dictation, vocabulary, and comprehension, this book contains also contains pronunciation and vocabulary lessons.
This one contains stories like "The Power of the Blessed Sacrament" and "Rip Van Wynkle". It also contains pronunciation, dictation, vocabulary, and comprehension with the lessons.
This one contains stories like "King Solomn and the Bees", "Joan of Arc", and "Paul Revere's Ride" by Longfellow. This book does not seem to contain as many additional lessons like vocabulary.
I am honestly not sure how to use this particular book. It does have spelling words and vocabulary. There are also lessons on Latin Roots, dictation, parts of speech (like synonyms) and abbreviations.
This reading text (used in the second grade at Seton Home Study School) has been a favorite among my children since we picked it up at a garage sale a number of years ago. Although basal readers (such as the Faith and Freedom readers) are designed for classroom use and not an essential part of a homeschool curriculum, I remember clearly how much I enjoyed receiving a new reader each school year and how I devoured all the interesting stories reading in bed on my first night of school.