Hiro, the Dragon Warrior, is back to face his fears as he attempts to recover the seven long-lost Power Jades; while Otis C. Mouse has his own global adventure in trying to escape the snares of an old cat and make his way safely home. If adventure is where your young reader is at, then the Phonics Comics books are just what any superhero has ordered up.

Written in traditional comic book style, these books will make your emerging reader will feel like he has "arrived." The artwork and quality in these books are top rate. The series is divided into 3 levels: early readers, developing readers, and confident readers. Each book has a list of story words and sight words in the back. The story words are nondecodable, more challenging words that appear in the text and relate directly to the context of the story. The sight words are those words that are used frequently in writing and that do not always apply to phonetic rules. These lists are an invaluable help to your child before he embarks on his adventure. The sense of success in reading through the book is worth its weight in gold for young readers.

Not only are these books fun to read and look at, but they also convey either a lesson or additional learning. Hiro, Dragon Warrior, in Battle at Mount Kamado struggles with facing his fears in order to rescue Power Jade Bravery and his friends. In Otis C. Mouse, A Tale of Too Many Cities, the national and international landmarks that are visited are a wonderful tie-in to geography and history lessons.

Having a hard time finding adventure books for your young reader, especially those rough and tumble boys? Look no further! Phonics Comics is the answer. Our greatest struggle was in getting our older kids to let go of them so our truly emerging reader could use it for school

Product review by Dawn Oaks, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2009