Kids are learning to read with Rocket! The beloved puppy from Tad Hills's New York Times bestselling picture books returns in a Step 1 early reader that proves every egg has a nest. Rocket and his friend Bella found an egg! The birds in the meadow don't know whose it is. The egg is too small, too colorless, or too round to be theirs! Will the friends return the egg to its nest? With its simple words, lots of repetition, and bright, colorful illustrations, young readers will love this Step 1 leveled reader about Rocket, which they can ready all by themselves! Step 1 Readers feature big type and easy words. Rhymes and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story. Perfect for early readers of Rocket the Brave and Drop it, Rocket! and children who know the alphabet and are eager to begin reading PreS-Gr 1-In this latest early reader title featuring Rocket the dog, he and his friend Bella the squirrel play in the meadow one sunny day. The two find a small, white, and oval egg and determine that they must get it to its home. As they search, Rocket and Bella come across an owl, chickens, ducks, and birds of many colors. "Is this your egg?" they ask each one they encounter; but all say no. Finally, when they stop to take a break, a turtle appears and tells them that the egg belongs to her. Rocket and Bella follow the turtle to her nest and return the egg. This book is well suited for beginning readers, with large text of one to two sentences per page. Bright digitally rendered images, which well depict the sunny day in the meadow, give readers clues to the words on the page. For instance, when the text says "Rocket and Bella find a bluebird. The egg is not hers. Her eggs are blue," the illustrations show a bluebird standing on a tree limb looking into a nest filled with blue eggs, while Bella holds the white egg. Readers can easily see that the eggs do not match; the egg does not belong to the bluebird. A happy ending will leave readers satisfied after they have had fun meeting different types of birds and finally see the egg safely returned home. VERDICT Recommended for early readers already familiar with Rocket, as well as for children both new to Rocket and to reading.-Florence Simmonsα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Tad Hills is the #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the Rocket and Duck & Goose series, including the New York Times bestselling picture books How Rocket Learned to Read; Rocket Writes a Story; R Is for Rocket; Duck & Goose; Duck, Duck, Goose; Duck & Goose Go to the Beach; and Duck & Goose, Honk! Quack! Boo! He also created various board books in these series, including Rocket’s Mighty Words ; Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin; the ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book What’s Up, Duck?: A Book of Opposites; Duck & Goose: Here Comes the Easter Bunny!; and several Step Into Reading titles, including Drop It, Rocket! and Rocket’s 100th Day of School .   The Boston Globe declared Hills’s work “charming, funny, simple, and surprising” and dubbed him “a master of the light comic touch.”   Tad lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, two children, and his real-life dog, Rocket, who has not yet learned to read.   Visit Tad online at tadhills.com, and follow him on Twitter at @tadhills.