A pleasant family fishing trip at the lake incorporates words with basic phonic sounds and introduces a word that begins with the rarely seen letter Q. Ken and his sister, Jen, both catch large redfish and Dad happily scoops them up with a large net. Similar phonic word sounds promote word recognition, and slightly longer sentences build reading skills in the advanced reader.

On a bright sunny day, Pat helps her father clean his van and Nat takes his cat out for a ride in his red cart. But things change quickly when the cat grabs Pat’s cleaning rag and runs. Giggles bubble up as children read about the chase to retrieve the rag. When Pat manages to grab her rag, she shames the cat. The vibrant and detailed illustrations clearly communicate the emotions and reactions of the characters. The advanced reader stimulates discussion points on responsibility, anger, and understanding that the cat wasn’t misbehaving but playing a game with the rag.

Nell makes and flies a paper airplane, setting off a series of unexpected events in a hilarious story that reminds children of their experiences with accidents. In this advanced easy reader, the well-illustrated expressions on the red hen’s face leave no doubt she is upset. The events open opportunities to teach children to build a paper airplane and discussion points about accidents and ways to make pets feel better when scared.

A soccer ball accidently hits Dan’s cat as Jan and Dan play, which instigates a series of unfortunate events. The angry cat with muddy paws perches on the neighbor’s clean van and upsets him. Dan rushes to get his cat off the van and trips over a bucket, spilling the water. No one is hurt in this advanced easy reader, but the story opens multiple discussion points, including dealing with upset pets and people.