"Bridge" Books A

My children have really enjoyed these simple stories about the adventures of a boy and his horse. Best for first through third graders - especially those who become proficient at reading when very young and not able to deal with more complex or mature themes. My oldest daughter fell in love with these books when she was six. She gobbled them up and they were a great bridge for her between easy readers and chapter books. My son, whose reading proficiency grew much more slowly, enjoyed them much later on. Here is a sample of the language:

In a flash Billy had his feet in the stirrups again; and they were off as fast as the faithful pony could go. Blaze was breathing hard now, but the farmhouse was near.

The length is significantly longer than the "easy reader" type books - with approximately 8-12 lines of text per page (charming black-and white illustrations are on every-other page).

In this story, Billy and Blaze discover a forest fire while taking a ride through the woods. They give it their all to go find help - jumping high walls and wide rivers and courage and determination save the day.

This book is a bit shorter than others in the series, and so might be a particularly good one for less-confident readers. It seems to average about five lines per page.

In this story, Billy and Blaze search for the lair of a mountain lion that has been troubling ranchers and rescue a baby calf from a ledge on a cliff.