This story is based on the life of Billy Bayly, a real boy who lived in Pennsylvania during the Civil War and had an unlikely friendship with a Southern soldier. Ready-to-Read books offer children a world of possibilities at four different reading Pre-Level 1 Recognizing Words • Word repetition • Familiar words and phrases • Simple sentences Level 1 Starting to Read • Simple stories • Increased vocabulary • Longer sentences Level 2 Reading Independently • More-complex stories • Varied sentence structure • Paragraphs and short chapters Level 3 Reading Proficiently • Rich vocabulary • More-challenging stories • Longer chapters