Mitchell is Moving by Marjorie Sharmat, illustrated by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey

Don't you just love the feeling when you discover a book you had loved as a child - but had completely forgotten about? The dawning recognition, the flood of warm fuzzy feelings...

I was delighted when I discovered Mitchell is Moving in our own library! How could I have forgotten this one? Decorated with Aruego and Dewey's trademark lumpy illustrations dancing across the stained white pages, Mitchell and his friend Margo try new things and experience separation and reunion...and appreciate the joys of swamps. 

This is a fairly typical reading level for its original publication (1984) when it was labeled a "level 3" but would now be considered an intermediate to fluent reader, coming in at a lexile that's close to 500.

Verdict: Kids used to the more heavily illustrated easy readers today may not appreciate the spare prose and restrained illustrations of this classic easy reader, but I think quite a few will pick up on the silly humor and enjoy these redoubtable dinosaurs.

ISBN: 9781448783212; Latest edition in print, prebound published 2011 by Simon Spotlight; Borrowed from the library

Revisited: I originally discovered this in our library in 2010. I later weeded it (and saved it for my own personal library). While it is still available, it's a secondary purchase at best and one that I've never found the justification to add. However, I've recently had more parents asking for older early readers and there might be an audience for this one that would justify its purchase now.