For what it's worth, a pivotal moment for keeping reading going after the lessons was when my partner picked up a comic book at a library event. For a few weeks after the end of the lessons, reading time had been traditional early readers and some of the books we'd previously read to them--even with us offering rewards, there had been ups and downs. As soon as kid started that comic, though, they were pushing right through our protests that it was bedtime, and chewing through the whole series. Luckily we managed to find another series to start before running out of the first one. As parents we can nudge or put stuff on the menu but but kid is pretty much in the driver's seat about what to read next.

In retrospect, of course! The kid just hadn't liked reading those books and things took off once we found stuff they liked. Best first readers are whatever your kid actually wants to read!