Book excerpt: About The Bank Street Ready-To-Read Series More than seventy years of educational research and innovative teaching have given the Bank Street College of Education the reputation as America’s most trusted name in early childhood education. Because no two children are exactly alike in their development, we have designed the Bank Street Ready-to-Read series in three levels to accommodate the individual stages of reading readiness of children ages four through eight. • Level 1: Getting Ready To Read— (Pre-K to Grade 1) Books are perfect for reading aloud with children who are getting ready to read or are just beginning to read words or phrases. • Level 2: Reading Together—(Grades 1 to 3) Books are written especially for children who are on their way to reading independently but who may need help. • Level 3: I Can Read It Myself—(Grades 2 to 3) Books are designed for children able to read on their own. They also can be enjoyed as read-alouds. Our three levels make it easy to select the books most appropriate for a child’s development and enable him or her to grow with the series step by step. The Bank Street Ready-to-Read books also overlap and reinforce each other, further encouraging the reading process. We feel that making reading fun and enjoyable is the single most important thing that you can do to help children become good readers. And we hope you’ll be a part of Bank Street’s long tradition of learning through sharing. —The Bank Street College of Education THE COLOR WIZARD Children will love laughing along with the toe-tapping verse and magical artwork of this easy-to-read page turner as Wizard Gray paints his planet from castle door to sky in every color of the rainbow.