McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader, USA, McGuffey Readers, Paperback McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader continues and extends the reading skills learned in the First Reader, for children as young as six all the way to adults learning to read. Seventy-one lessons use short stories to teach meaning, spelling, pronunciation, and punctuation. Each lesson highlights 8 to 20 new words and charming 19th-century illustrations accompany the text. This is the revised 1879 edition. The McGuffey Readers are among the best known schoolbooks in the history of American education, having sold more than 120 million copies since the time of their first publication in 1836.