Costco Bob Books

[[email protected]]

What's the deal with the Costco BOB Books? I looked them up on the Bob website and it seems that the 3 sets correspond with the 5 regular sets. Do they have the same number of books total? Is the quality of the paper different? Is it really as good a deal as it appears to be? $30 v. 57.55?

Also did your kids use the whole series. I didn't realize the difference when I was at Costco yesterday and only bought Sets 1 &2 and the Pre-Reader set. Should I go back for the last set?

Thanks,

Christine W
mom to John 11.19.05, Katie 1.25.07 & Sarah 5.8.09

[schrocat]

The Costco BOB books are a fantastic deal. They have all the books, just divided in 3 sets instead and the books are bigger and easier to read. That said, my son taught himself to read while we were taking a break from the first set so it's not really good for learning how to read for us.

[o_mom]

I found that the BOB books take a huge leap in difficulty after the second set (Set 3, word families was too difficult to go right to after Set 2). We switched over to some of the Now I'm Reading! sets at that point (level 1) as they seemed to have more material at the level he needed to practice at. We came back to the BOB books later, but could have done without sets 3+.

Interestingly enough, a friend had her son in a preschool where they had several of these beginning reader systems such as BOB and NIR, etc. She is the one that told me to look at NIR as the school actually had a progression chart that said to do BOB 1, BOB 2, NIR 1, etc. There was more to it, but they had essentially put all the systems together and ranked them by difficulty so that the kids could progress through them in an orderly fashion and have enough repetition at each level if they needed it. Once we had gone through a few more NIR level 1 and 2, I think we went back to BOB 3 and 4, but beyond that we just did easy readers.

This chart can help you see what is in each set: http://www.bobbooks.com/bob_books_editions.php

[dkmom]

Has anyone see Collection #3 at their store?
I went to two San Jose,CA stores last week and they had the Pre-reading, Collection #1, and Collection #2 sets only. No Collection #3. I asked the lady at Customer Service and unfortunately the computer system just says Bob Books and the quantity but it doesn't do a breakdown by collection.

Is Coscto version Collection #3 even worth getting? We just started Collection #1.

Thanks,
Darshana

[MMMommy]

I noticed yesterday that our Costco only had the pre-reading, set 1 and set 2. They didn't have Set 3.

[fivi2]

Can I hijack to ask what is in the pre-reading set? I saw those yesterday and almost grabbed them. Are they worth it for kids who know letters and shapes?

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

Has anyone see Collection #3 at their store?
I went to two San Jose,CA stores last week and they had the Pre-reading, Collection #1, and Collection #2 sets only. No Collection #3. I asked the lady at Customer Service and unfortunately the computer system just says Bob Books and the quantity but it doesn't do a breakdown by collection.


We must have been at the same stores. :)

I'm looking for Collection 3, too.

[schrocat]

I didn't see Collection 3 at my Costco either.

[[email protected]]

I didn't see Collection 3 at my Costco either.

Looks like I made a big mistake not picking Collection 3 when I saw it. Hopefully I'll be able to find it today.

Christine W

[dkmom]

what does NIR stand for ?

also I emailed the person at Bob Books and here was her response in regards to Collection 3 missing at Costco:

================================================== ======
Collection 3 is coming soon! It was shipped separately from the other sets, and should be arriving late this week. San Diego seems to be the last ones to receive their shipment. I suggest calling first, but Collection 3 is definitely scheduled to be in your store soon.

Thanks for checking in on this matter.

Best, Lynn
=================================

Thanks,
Darshana

[o_mom]

what does NIR stand for ?



Now I'm Reading! It's another beginner reading set. You can usually find them at B&N and Borders if you wanted to look at them in person. I found that they had more repetition at the very beginning levels which made for a smoother transition.

[ett]

I saw Collection 3 at my Costco today.

[Jen841]

I bought Collection 1 at Sam's for $10.48 the other day.

[inmypjs]

I am new to Bob books. I have never seen them IRL. I have heard raves about them here and have always wondered about them. I have a 2 and 4 yo - both of whom know their letters well. My 4 yo old knows sounds and can spell some simple words including his name. Should I just start with the first collections? What should I buy to start? Also how much are the sets at Costco? TIA!