Small Readers: Snow Hens by Janet Morgan Stoeke

I was baffled when a new kid joined my Bookaneers book club and declared, firmly, that they ONLY read books about tractors. Nothing else. So I went on a concerted hunt for farm-related books (side note - they changed their mind after I got them interested in some other titles).

I've always loved Janet Morgan Stoeke's simple but funny books and happily added her easy reader series, The Loopy-Coop Hens, back when they first came out. They've now been released in a more traditional easy reader format and I pulled a couple, including Snow Hens, to entice my reluctant farmophile.

In this intermediate easy reader, Midge, Pip, and Dot are making a snow hen. Or trying to anyways. When a disagreement arises over who is going to make the beak, Dot takes off to make her own creation while Midge and Pip fight over competing creations of a fox and a snow hen. Which one will Rooster Sam like the best? Meanwhile, Dot has come up with a snow sculpture that they can all appreciate!

The silly squabbles will make readers giggle while perhaps seeing their own sibling quarrels in the hens. Even grown-ups will have a chuckle over Pip's dramatic declarations about art. Stoeke's illustrations are simple but humorous; a quirk of an eyebrow or curve of a beak expresses a world of emotions. The font is bold but a little smaller than a pre-reader, suited to its intermediate level. Most of the text is placed on white backgrounds but a few are against barn walls or other colored backdrops. The one thing an early reader might find confusing is keeping the hens straight during their dialogue.

Verdict: Funny and relatable, this is a strong addition to any easy reader section.

ISBN: 9780448488448; This edition published 2016 by Penguin young readers; Purchased for the library