Ahoy, mates! Captain Frankie the brown hound dog is sailing to Fairy Tale Island, where he meets lots of familiar story-time characters: Hansel and Gretel, the Three Little Pigs, the Gingerbread Man, and several fire-breathing dragons! The famous fairy-tale friends are cleverly integrated into worksheets that introduce or reinforce first-grade-level reading concepts, such as using adjectives or drawing on context clues to understand the meaning of words. Other lessons discuss antonyms (words that are opposites), synonyms (words that mean the same thing), and homophones (words that sound the same, but that have different meanings and spellings, like night and knight). Clear explanations of all these concepts are included in a feature called "Frankie's Facts." These notes appear at the top of many pages and will help an adult explain the concepts to a child. An adult will also need to explain the directions for each worksheet. The workbook includes a large sheet of stickers depicting little coins, jeweled pirate treasures, and Captain Frankie and the other characters from JumpStart, a bestselling software program for children. (Ages 4 to 8) --Marcie Bovetz