This is Freddie is the first of a series of five books about Freddie a fireman and his friends. In this book Freddie drives his fire engine through the countryside. He spots a cat up in a tree. The cat needs rescuing so Freddie uses the ladder on his fire engine to get up into the tree and rescue the cat. Book two introduces Freddies friend Andy who drives an ambulance book three introduces Freddies friend Dave who drives a digger book four introduces Freddies friend Polina a policewoman who drive a police car and book five introduces Freddies friend Tom who drives a truck. These books can be used as read to books for preschool children or as read with books for beginner readers. There are fullcolour illustrations throughout. The simple line drawings appeal to young children and the emotions of the characters are clearly depicted. The text uses alliteration to support phonic skills and repetition to assist with word recognition or identification. The focus on vehicles or transport is intended to appeal especially to boys. The books are best read in sequence as they gradually introduce Freddies friends. Additionally the books repeat vocabulary introduced in previous books to assist with longterm word identification.ampnbsp