Amazon.com Review
Frankie the brown hound is having a little trouble preparing himself for the JumpStart Science Fair in this 32-page early reader filled with charming animal characters from JumpStart, a bestselling software program for young children. Frankie keeps checking watches and clocks as the time nears for the fair to start, reinforcing time-telling vocabulary and concepts commonly introduced at the first-grade level. He and the other animals work hour after hour tracking down Casey the cat, who has sailed away in the hot-air balloon entered in the science fair by Hopsalot the rabbit. The hot-air balloon is restored to its rightful owner at the exact time the fair is scheduled to begin, and a happy Hopsalot wins first prize. Plenty of bright colors, action, and varying perspectives in the illustrations help keep this story moving along with only a few lines of text on each page. Beginning readers can read the hour designations as an adult reads the text, and more advanced readers will be able to handle the entire text themselves. (Ages 4 to 8) --Marcie Bovetz