Although there is no question that the format of this book may seem somewhat dated (no illustrations! just words on the page!), there is no other text that I know of that does as good a job as this one in what it sets out to do. Indeed, as old-fashioned as it is in some ways, I find that today's students are hungry for exactly these skills, and I have been pleasantly surprised to find how well they take to this book. I particularly like how well structured the exercises are: difficulty increases incrementally,so students experience success as they go along, and when they complete a set of exercises, they feel quite accomplished. I use this text as supplement in an advanced French-III high school class (201-202 college level) where the focus is on communicative proficiency. As teachers in high school and college, we tend to "assign reading." What this text does is get down to the nitty-gritty of how exactly one learns to read a text when one can't come close to understanding every word.