When the stray cat that Carol and Ray have taken in leads Carol to a spot outside the house and starts digging, he reveals a broken gas pipe, thus saving their lives. The effort of explaining an abstract household danger in simple language results in an awkward telling, but readers will nonetheless enjoy the appealing watercolors and the true-story aspect of the tale.

The Pets to the Rescue easy reader series presents true stories of animals that have saved lives, providing a dose of realistic drama along with controlled vocabulary and short sentences. Clements ( The School Story , p. 582, etc.) relates the story of a woman named Carol who helps feed a feral cat at a nursing home and eventually adopts one of the cat's kittens. Carol and her husband already have three adult cats, but they add the orange kitten to their family and name him Ringo because he uses his paw to hit at a door like a drum. After Ringo grows up, Carol and Ray (and the other cats) all mysteriously fall sick, with everyone sleeping too much. Ringo beats on the front door until Carol follows him outside, where he digs in the ground near the house and uncovers a broken gas pipe that has been leaking into the house. Ringo subsequently achieves his 15 minutes of fame. Young animal-lovers will enjoy Ringo's dramatic story, complemented by Beier's ( Sybil Ludington's Midnight Ride , not reviewed, etc.) watercolor illustrations of a cozy country setting and an appealing marmalade-colored cat. This easy reader's design features two or three sentences per page with varied text placement, a large type-size, and much white space, creating a satisfying reader at the first-grade level with a built-in safety lesson as well. (Easy reader. 6-8)

K-Gr 3-This new series introduces beginning readers to the "True stories of animals that saved people's lives." In Ringo, a young woman visits her mother at a nursing home and befriends a cat that is expecting kittens. When the cat gives birth, she adopts an orange kitten and names him Ringo because he likes to drum. This feline becomes a hero when he alerts his owner and her husband to the dangerous broken gas pipe in their backyard. Beginning readers will be familiar with many of the words in the repetitive text. The colorful watercolor illustrations provide visual clues, and viewers will enjoy following Ringo as he frolics across the pages. A solid choice for libraries in need of nonfiction beginning readers.-Maura Bresnahan, Shawsheen School, Andover, MA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.