Chinese for Europeans and Americans: New Concept Chinese

This weekend, I picked up Chinese for Europeans and Americans from New Concept Chinese. The book appears either to be an introductory reader or an introductory classroom text. I would not recommend it for an absolute beginner to Chinese, as it uses characters but does not teach writing, stroke order, how to look up words, etc. That said, it's a great book for someone who has studied Chinese a bit, but still needs spoon-fed content. A fair number of words are introduced, and if it's a bit artificial, it leans toward relatively everyday topics. I'm enjoying it and would recommend it for students with a fair amount of background but that they're having trouble putting together. For those who are a bit newer to Chinese and who want to learn some writing, by the way, I do like De Francis' Beginning Chinese Reader, though it's a bit more academic.

By the way, for beginners I continue to recommend earwormslearning's Rapid Chinese. While it's a far from perfect introduction, it offers some nice building blocks for Mandarin in a memorable way.