Rise of Pegasus: A QUIX Book

K-Gr 3–As the new kid at the School for Magical Monsters, Pegasus learns to make magical friends and uncovers his gift of flight by being his “best self” at the advice of his teacher. The story is mostly about working through problems together and overcoming prejudice, as the class is separated into two groups of Beasts and Creatures. The distinction between the two groups seems arbitrary, which is perhaps the point, though it’s unclear why. Simple word choice and sentence structure, paired with short chapters, makes this a wonderful bridge between easy readers and early chapter books. The illustrations are adorable and add to the gentle tone of the piece, but aren’t as plentiful as comparable books, considering the target demographic and how many characters there are. A word list of some more challenging words and basic discussion questions in the back matter make this a great teaching resource.