Little squirrel Matt has just moved into a new home in a new neighborhood of trees. He's sad and lonely until he catches a hat in the wind. It belongs to Pam, and the two young squirrels become friends. The very simple text, only a few basic words per page, on a white background, appears opposite expressive, clear paintings that make appealing characters of Matt and Pam. Beginning readers will gain confidence as they work through this reassuring book in the Green Light Reader series, which considers universal fears.

Eleven short sentences tell how a squirrel who has just moved into a new tree makes friends with another squirrel by retrieving her runaway hat. There are no surprises here, but with uncluttered illustrations, the story will be useful for beginners eager to read a whole book.

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