There are a couple of emergent readers at my house, and we've tried several phonics reader sets. My little girl would start out feeling so enthusiastic, but we never made it past the first book in each set, because she was so turned off by them. Can you blame her? They're devoid of plot, contrived, and boring. I saw this book on Cathy Duffy's website (it's one of her top curriculum picks), clicked through to the corresponding website, and decided to order the book.
This is the program for us. I've worked so hard to develop a love of books and reading in my children, and this program will continue to foster that love.
My only criticism is that there were some areas where I would have liked some more specifics examples (like writing exercises for the earliest lessons), but otherwise I love this program and the spirit of this program.