ALA Booklist (Wed May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2002)

Emergent readers get a quick lesson in cooperation from this encounter in the Green Light Reader series. Jack and Rick want to play. But Jack--portrayed as a rabbit with a polka-dot kerchief in McPhail's much simplified but still expressive pictures--stands next to a log on one side of a stream, and Rick the bear, with a length of rope, is on the other. A solution is not long in coming, followed by a splashy mishap. The text, one line per page or spread, mixes simple statements, questions, and exclamations that work with the pictures, so that when Rick falls off the log, instead of just describing the action, the caption is a response: No! Oh no! Jack uses the rope to pull Rick out, and both are last seen happily jumping rope together. A tidy, well-paced tale that will help pave the way to Frog and Toad and similar easy-reader friendships.

Horn Book

The only thing preventing Jack (a rabbit) and Rick (a bear) from playing together is the stream that separates them. However, these animal friends soon discover that a little teamwork is all they need. McPhail's familiar illustrations reflect both the warmth and simplicity of the story. The very brief text--less than sixty words--tells an engaging story.

Kirkus Reviews

No one can beat McPhail ( I Love You Because You're You , 2001, etc.) at illustrations of bears, and Rick the bear joins a long list of the artist's ursine charmers who can't fail to win over young readers. In this emergent-level easy reader, Rick meets a rabbit named Jack, but unfortunately, Rick and Jack are on opposite sides of the river. The two characters use a hollow log and Rick's jump-rope to explore the concept of cooperation, helping each other in simple but creative ways until they can join together on the same bank of the river to jump rope side by side. The text uses a question-and-answer format and just one simple sentence per page to tell the short but satisfying story, which has a real plot and real obstacles for the characters to overcome, despite the length. McPhail's delicately shaded watercolor illustrations show rotund Rick in an orange vest and jaunty Jack in a polka-dot neckerchief, with some hilarious expressions on the animals' faces as they struggle with the heavy log. Children who are just learning to sound out basic vocabulary will enjoy this amusing tale, one of several that McPhail has created for the Green Light easy reader series. (Easy reader. 5-7)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-Two good choices for children who are just beginning to decode words and need to know that they can read a whole book. In Home, Matt, a squirrel, is new in the neighborhood and has no friends. When Pam (another squirrel) loses her hat, he catches it and returns it. Now, each of them has a new friend. The story is short and sweet, and good for the earliest readers. Each spread features one or two sentences against a white background on one side and a full-page illustration on the other. In Jack and Rick, a rabbit and a bear want to play together but are on opposite sides of a stream. Jack can't lift a tree limb to make a bridge so Rick throws him a rope so that they can pull the limb over. When Rick tries to cross the bridge, however, he falls in and his rabbit friend pulls him out. It's a simple plot about friends helping one another, with one sentence per page and a softly colored, uncluttered illustration above it. It is next to impossible to create an interesting plot using so few easy words. These titles succeed better than most.-Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.