Well, they were out of print. They weren't made anymore. Because those in charge of buying new books were not in favor of the phonetically based readers. I had also held onto a set of beginning readers that were a bit more difficult and less phonetically controlled, and these we used as well. I found a lot of practice at first with books that at least appeared easy was very important in developing confidence.
Self doubt leads to backtracking and a loss of focus on the whole thought being worked with.
If you spend too much time looking at the trees you can get lost in the forest. For this reason I never made a big fuss about spelling, even with Grade 3's. Neatness too was not a prime concern. I seldom asked for a second copy, unless there was a good reason, such as to have stories for display. Most stories were just read aloud by the writer to the whole class or to a small group.