This was my first book.
I hold it wholly responsible for my being able to read as well as I could, from such a young age.
It may seem like a simple children's book, but there's a reason why it was available in the late 70's, and is still popular today.
The text, and story is deliberately pedagogical.
The format:
"It"
"It was"
"It was a dark"
"It was a dark and stormy night"
Requires the reader to start again and re-read the whole story on each page.
Accompanying this is an illustration of the latest progression, with a sequence of bears following, all in each preceding stage of the story.
It somehow manages to work in tension as the narrative progresses, reaching a very loud and terrifying finale, upon which the reader is then asked to retrace their steps, backwards, very quickly.
Genius.
And it was fun, too, we'd read it out loud, slowly at first and then challenge ourselves to reel off the reverse conclusion as quickly as possible. It could get really, REALLY loud.
I highly recommend it to anyone, or the parents of anyone, struggling to start reading English
Buy the book here