The effects of the use of traditional series readiness workbooks and subsequent delay in beginning reading instruction on reading achievement at the middle and end of first grade were investigated. Fifty-seven percent of the children in a suburban school district used traditional readiness workbooks and of the remaining 43%, some used non-series readiness workbooks that taught sounds but not words. A stratified random sampling procedure assigned one readiness class and one reading class to each of three schools. Teacher volunteers were correspondingly classified. Those in the readiness programs were told that they must use the readiness workbooks for six weeks during which there was to be no formal reading instruction, and those who were reading class teachers were told to begin formal reading instruction using pre-primers with all children. Both formal and informal reading ability pre-tests showed that there were no statistical differences between the groups. The results showed that the use of traditional reading readiness materials in first grade is not only valueless, but may even retard reading progress. On the other hand, regular reading instruction is valuable and should not be denied any child. (TA)