If your young reader is ready to step away from picture books and move on to chapter books Katie Woo is the right story for them. Light, colorful illustrations clearly demonstrate the actions and activities of these feisty characters. Simple sentences with easy words make each chapter a fun and quick learning experience.

Katie Woo loves school and she has lots of friends. Her teacher is Miss Winkle and she plans lots of cool activities for the class. Miss Winkle agrees to let the students have a class pet. He is a guinea pig the class names Binky. Katie gets to care for him over the weekend but the day before school Binky is lost. When Katie attempts to tell the class what happened there is a really cute twist and surprise at the end with regard to Binky.

The Katie Woo stories in these short and sweet chapters teach young readers about bullies, how not to lie and take things that don't belong to you and also how to be the best at whatever you do. The back pages show readers hoe to make sock puppets that look like Binky. Parents and teachers will love these quick reads to encourage any child to read more and love it. ( )

A great school story for beginner readers, "Katie Woo: Rules the School" was another hit for Fran Manushkin. Katie Woo stories are excellent for young elementary school students, each story focuses on everyday issues that children have to deal with today. "Rules for School," covers bulling, teasing, responsibility, sharing, and lying. Each story shows how Katie navigates these issues, and come up with a solution to solve them. This collection of Katie Woo stories reads much like her others story, but would appeal to children looking for a bigger story to read. ( )