Small Readers: Bradford Street Buddies: Backyard Camp-Out by Jerdine Nolen, illustrated by Michelle Henninger

This is the second book in the Bradford Street Buddies series. It's a somewhat old-fashioned series about neighborhood kids and their everyday adventures, but it's none the worse for that.

In this episode, twins Jada and Jamal find some old camping equipment and get the idea for a backyard camp-out with all their friends. The backyard camp-out quickly turns into a hunt for a missing cat and a celebration that brings all the neighbors together.

Henninger's pictures show a cheerfully diverse neighborhood and pick out humorous and mildly exciting moments of the story to emphasize. Most of the spreads are covered with art with the text placed on lighter colored backgrounds.

This is a level 3 Green Light Reader and has short chapters, more complex vocabulary and sentences, and a font type close to that of a chapter book.

Verdict: There aren't a lot of easy readers featuring people, let alone diverse kids, and the mild mystery will interest readers. If you're looking to expand your upper-level easy readers this is a good core series to add.

ISBN: 9780544368439; Published 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Borrowed from another library in my consortium