Big Cat Dog's New Coat George the Knight

K-Gr 2—These easy readers have short, simple stories with bold print, an uncomplicated sentence structure, and very few words per page. Big Cat involves a romp with the feline and a mouse, then two mice, then three, and, finally, six. In Dog's New Coat, Dog tries to lose a spotted coat that his owners buy for him, but it keeps coming back. In George the Knight, the child must create a sword, a shield, and a horse before he is considered a knight by his older brother. Although the story lines are less than thrilling, the controlled vocabulary serves a specific purpose on a child's path to becoming an independent reader. Bright, simple illustrations give textual clues. Each book includes an opening list of words to know, a puzzle activity, and a note to adults that offers some ideas on how to make children's transition to independent reading more comfortable and successful.—Lindsay Persohn, Crystal Lake Elementary, Lakeland, FL