Scarlet and the ring With four phonics stories

Gr 1--3--This latest installment in the "Meg and Greg" series, which enables burgeoning and struggling readers with useful exercises, phonics, and sight words, introduces readers to r-controlled vowels (/ar/, /or/, /er/, and /air/). Each story centers one vowel sound, but all embrace the theme of working together to accomplish a goal of recovery. At the end of each tale are activities with sight words and phonics sounds from the plot. In the first story, Meg and Greg visit Greg's family and help his cousin Martha retrieve her missing garnet ring at the farmers' market. In the second, the duo help Martha's friend Flora find her horse Popcorn who was spooked by a storm and ran away. In stories three and four, they help an injured surfer get back to shore, and reunite a little boy with his toy bear. Each spread includes an adult (or buddy) reader's text on the left, and sequential comic-style art with dialogue bubbles and illustration labels for the young reader on the right. VERDICT This is an extremely useful and entertaining series for striving readers; children reading this book along with their partner are not only getting the adventures of Meg and Greg, but learning their sight words and phonics with ease.