Pete the Cat is already the star of various picture books and early readers, but this new set of a dozen slim volumes ensures that Pete and his groovy pals will be helping young readers grow for quite a while. These installments in the voluminous ТI Can Read! collection are great to share with an emerging reader, or for a beginning reader to navigate. Some stories have complex text, including dialogue, but the images align with the text to provide valuable context clues. Pete’s hippie charm is evident on each page of these lovingly illustrated and creative tales. Each book ends with a lesson. For example, one encourages readers to use creativity to salvage mistakes. Another humorously ends with the fact that platypuses don’t have teeth. Common themes include sharing, sportsmanship, and bravery, with a mix of dry humor to engage adults who are along for the ride. VERDICT You can’t go wrong adding this whole series to your shelves.