Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: School Days

When the seasons change and fall comes around, it's time for Kate to go to school. Cocoa isn't too thrilled with the fact, as the four short, easy-to-read chapters of the book show. In MARY'S LAMB, Cocoa is determined to follow Kate and her school bus all the way to school, until he realizes that the faster she gets there, the quicker she'll return back home. With THE PORTRAIT, Cocoa helps Kate with her homework assignment, which involves painting a picture. A NEW FRIEND introduces Kate's schoolmate, Jenny, who Cocoa is determined not to like, until Kate reassures her best friend that nothing will ever take the place of her horse. In A REPORT, Kate and Cocoa both realize that Cocoa is the best one to help with a school report on horses! The COWGIRL KATE AND COCOA series is great for beginning readers, or for a quick and fun read before bed. This one is no exception, and the lessons learned in the story are ones that everyone can relate to. Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

This book is perfect for my daughter at the moment, a good intro chapter book, with enough text on the pages to be real reading, but also with wonderful color illustrations that she enjoyed. The author knows her horses - (we especially liked the part where Cocoa decides he looks too skinny in his portrait, and thus needs to eat more) and the four separate stories/chapters are sweet without being overly so. An excellent choice for any horse-loving child ready for the step past picture books.

I purchased this book for my 3.5 year old daughter and she enjoys it very much. The relationship between Cocoa the horse and Kate is sweet and the chapters are short enough that the whole book can be read before bed time.

This series is so funny and warm and interesting that even my 7 year old boy loves them. It is so hard to find good fun interesting books for kids this age, especially when they are late readers. Hats off to Erica Silverman for giving us great books for our little ones!