A timeless story about teamwork in sports, winners, and losers introduces the advanced early reader to words with similar sounds, words with more than one syllable, and words that begin with the rarely seen letter Z. This little book is packed with excellent situations that are beautifully illustrated and spark discussion about feelings and appropriate behavior whether one loses or wins.

Pat learns an important lesson that children can relate to when she doesn’t put her pretty hat where it belongs. Pat’s cat finds the soft hat on its favorite chair and curls up on top of it, which upsets the little girl. The bold colors in the illustrations in this book light up the advanced easy reader, and the storyline blends new words and easy one-syllable words into longer sentences to guide children to reading success. This advanced reader contains excellent parent and child discussion points on responsibility and anger.

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.

In this heartfelt story, Jill and Nick enjoy playing with their beloved pet dog, Sig. After Jill accidently kicks the ball into the goat pen, the brave Sig jumps the fence to retrieve it. Sig doesn’t see the angry goat, and it butts him with its head. Jill and Nick go with their father to take Sig to the vet for treatment. Colorful illustrations add realism to this advanced easy reader as Jill and Nick worry about Sig and then get happy faces when Sig will be fine. The family-friendly story provides an opportunity for parents to discuss a veterinarian’s work.