The Joy Hakim books are NOT simple. They are visually appealing and have distractions in side bars, but simple is not a word I'd use about them. They are a strong middle school curriculum. We used G3 and found the discussions great and depth of thought was encouraged.
I agree with this.
They are simple in comparison to a college text, as is any resource targeting middle schoolers. Now, it is likely that a gifted child in the target age range might be beyond them--they were perfect for my son at 9, but would not have been enough at 12--but they are *much* better than typical middle school fare.
And for those of us who are driven crazy by the wandering prose and the crowded, busy pages of the original series, the concise version fixes most of that without taking anything away.
