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Rating: 
Summary: Simple yet thorough
Review: I have been frustrated with so many piano teaching books because they inadvertently teach the kids to learn the numbers instead of where they are. This is a simple approach that can be quickly mastered. Kids are rewared by ability to learn a familiar song and by the chance to do a duet with their teacher both in a short time. By the end of Book one, they are playing nine notes and using both hands, a few times even both hands together. It adds new notes at a reasonable rate. It teaches them the timing and mechanics in a good, non-intimidating way. We're on to BOOK TWO. Drawback~ Good luck finding Book Two!
Rating:
Summary: Simple yet thorough
Review: I have been frustrated with so many piano teaching books because they inadvertently teach the kids to learn the numbers instead of where they are. This is a simple approach that can be quickly mastered. Kids are rewared by ability to learn a familiar song and by the chance to do a duet with their teacher both in a short time. By the end of Book one, they are playing nine notes and using both hands, a few times even both hands together. It adds new notes at a reasonable rate. It teaches them the timing and mechanics in a good, non-intimidating way. We're on to BOOK TWO. Drawback~ Good luck finding Book Two!
Rating:
Summary: Usborne Piano Course: Book 1
Review: I have found both book one and two of this series to cover comparable information to both the John Thompson and Bastien Primer piano books. Usborne's colorful, cheerful drawings, and simple instructions are far superior, however. This is an unbeatable primer series. Every few pages include reminders to the child of how to sit, hold their fingers, and what notes and signs they've learned up to that point. The children feel that they are playing "real songs" right from the start. Usborne teaches both hands together, instead of the old-fashioned method of teaching the right hand fingering first. I have taught four children with it, and they have found the two books readable and unthreatening.
Rating:
Summary: Very good !
Review: I used this book to teach my 9 year old daughter.She had no prior experience on the piano.She really liked the songs and illustrations.It's a very well organized material,and the perfect start for a begginer.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Hal Leonard
Review: My 7 year old son and I tried this book. It moves too quickly, and mixes several concepts in one lesson. In one lesson, for example, the student is expected to learn where the notes appear on the staff; and at the same time, the selection uses both quarter and half notes. This was confusing to my son, because the notes were both in different positions on the staff, and they looked different, some 'colored in' and some not. He couldn't grasp both concepts in one lesson, and this led to frustration, something you don't want when you are trying to expose you child to music. Plus, the book moves too quickly. Children need time to adjust to playing, looking at music and determining whether it is rising in pitch or falling, for instance, before they are every ready to start learning to read music. Hal Leonard moves nice and slow, and allows for mastery of one concept before introducing another. With something so new and unfamiliar, as playing an instrument is for a novice, this is essential. If you decide to buy Hal Leonard, be sure to buy the book with the accompanying CD, and this is another advantage over Usborne; you can by a CD with the book with accompaniment for each song, one recording at slow practice speed that features a piano playing the student's part, the next an orchestra accompaniment minus piano up to proper tempo for the student to play along with once a song is mastered. One last piece of advice I read on the internet: kids do much better if they hear the songs they are to play over and over again before ever attempting them; knowing the songs by ear. This made a world of difference for my son. It's easier to learn a song when you already know how it is supposed to sound. So during my son's lesson, I play all the pieces he's learning or has mastered, plus several songs ahead, to familiarize him with what's coming up. The book is so simple, it is easy to do. I don't even play the piano myself. We are learning together. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: A TERRIFIC START FOR KIDS
Review: My daughter is 8. With absolutely no previous musical training she began this book one month ago. She has now completed it and she is able to: play notes on both the treble clef staff and the bass clef staff (5 notes for each hand); play with both hands on simple arrangements (that also means striking multiple treble and bass clef notes simultaneously); recognize Italian instructions like forte and piano; play two-handed arrangements of Au Clair de la Lune, Yankee Doodle, Good King Wenceslas and a number of original tunes. All this and much more just by practicing three times a week for 30 minutes at each session. She felt no fear or threat from the book's colourful layout and is now moving on to Book Two. This is a pleasant and painless way to introduce your child to the language of music and the piano. Highly recommended. If you're wondering where to go after these two books, pianists at a local music store, upon looking through the Usborne books, said a student would be ready for Book Two or Three of the Hal Leonard Piano Lessons series, also a colourful and child-friendly set of books, which culminates with Book Five. Upon completion of Book Five the pianists told me a student would be ready for Grade 4 in the Royal Conservatory of Music lesson plan (if that's the route you'd like to take). You won't regret starting your kids off with the two Usborne piano books. You'll be amazed at how quickly they learn and love what they're learning. Highest rating for a piano instruction book.
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