I can’t remember whether or not I read these—I was born in 1962—but I had heard of them... “see Spot run; run, Spot run” etc. Maybe I did. The one mentioned above, as it says, debuted in 1980...the year I started college...
Growing up with few channels on TV and no internet, I wound up going to my library and checking out the children’s section, then the adult section. I know I liked the books by Walter Brooks that featured Freddie the pig, etc. (Those went back to the 30s I think).
No, that is Dick & Jane. Much older than this guy could’ve handled.
Dick & Jane really is wonderful. My mother bought a re-issue compilation of them the Christmas before last for my son when he was 4. He LOVED them, and while we always read to him every night, these made it easy for HIM to learn and read, by repetition. He obsessed on it for 4 months, could read the whole thing by then, and suddenly he seemed to be reading ANYthing! (No, we never pushed him - my mother the teacher is also of the opinion that often people push kids too much when they will learn it anyway.)