Series Manual and Teaching Guide
Dr. Best Learn to Read is intended to teach children all the basic language patterns of English, so that by the time a child completes the program, he or she is expected to be reading fluently.
Set B - Book 01: You Took My Towel
The brothers are arguing and taking each other’s things. There doesn’t seem to be a solution until Dad discusses spiritual principles that are part of traditional Indian village life.
Set B - Book 02: A Chicken is Food for a Cat
This story simply describes the vegetarian diet and our loving relationship with animals. Many children who have diets that are different from those of the dominant culture around them are subject to ridicule and are put in a position to defend their culture, beliefs, and lifestyle.
Set B - Book 03: This is My Cow
Increasingly in developing countries such as India, the traditional standards for humane and kind animal care are eroding. This story presents a traditional picture of the cow as part of the family. In this story, Ravi cares for his cow but has to be careful!
Set B - Book 04: Toil in the Sun
Bulls are often butchered because people fail to recognize their economic value. But oxen work the land without petrochemicals, tractor manufacturing and other aspects of a polluted world. The farmers in this book live in a modern eco-village, training oxen and using them to produce food.
Set B - Book 05: Jagannath's Cart
At the start of the rainy season, in India’s city of Puri on the east coast, there is a yearly festival where the forms of Jagannath and his brother and sister ride on huge carts through the city. Millions of people come to pull the carts and sing in the streets. Similar festivals are also celebrated in cities throughout the world.
Set B - Book 06: The Gull's Eggs
This adaptation of a traditional Indian tale explores determination in the face of obstacles. It features Garuda, Vishnu’s interplanetary eagle carrier.
Set B - Book 07: The Fish Got Bigger
This story from ancient India tells of the fish avatar. A king finds this fish, who at first appears very small. The king tries to give the fish a suitable home but the fish quickly outgrows every place the king arranges.
Set B - Book 08: Little Sticks
This traditional tale from India has a theme found throughout the world’s cultures of being granted a wish but not knowing what is truly valuable.
Set B - Book 09: Rocks in My Pack
This is an allegory of the soul (jeeva in Sanskrit) becoming free from illusion and material attachments in order to attain perfection. In the Indic tradition a guru is often compared to a boatman, and human life to a boat used to cross an ocean of material illusion.
Set B - Book 10: Colours
Holi is a festival of the beginning of spring. People throw coloured dyes on each other, both in dry and liquid form. This book promotes a return to traditional fun that also celebrates our connection with Mother Earth.
Set B - Book 11: Krishna's Usual Food
Chapatis or rotis are a staple food of north India, often eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Villagers pat the dough into a flat, round shape, and cook the bread on a clay stove, burning cow dung or wood. One day, Vikram decides to have something other than traditional chapatis.
Set B - Book 12: Mr. and Mrs. Trish
Hospitality is deeply ingrained in traditional Indian culture. But when unexpected guests arrive at the temple, can little Sita take care of them?
Set B - Book 13: Yashoda's Vision
This story of Krishna eating dirt and showing his mother, Yashoda, the cosmos in his mouth is from the ancient Puranas of India. Yashoda decides that sometimes love is all we need when something we experience is beyond our understanding.
Set B - Book 14: The Wicked Snake
For centuries children have loved this story from the Puranic literature about how Krishna deals with a gigantic snake who has swallowed all his friends.