Part of a series, the purpose of this low-readability/high interest book is to enable students to use higher order thinking to develop their reading comprehension skills. The reading skills addressed in the book are based on state reading standards and assessment tests for grades three and four. The goal of this series is to teach students how to analyze what they read: students answer questions based on a passage and then provide supporting evidence from the text for their answers This beginning book is divided into 7 specific skill units: inference/conclusion; vocabulary; story elements; main idea/theme; cause/effect; prediction; and mixed skills. Each unit begins with a lesson to introduce or review the skill. A practice activity is also included. There are 7 reading passages for each skill, and the last unit combines all the skills in each story. Contains answer keys; a 16-item glossary; 8 literature citations; and a sample activity. (PM)