Small Readers: Chicken in mittens by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Shahar Kober

I've only recently been getting into Lehrhaupt's Chicken books, both picture books and easy readers, and I feel I've really missed out since they're super funny!

In this easy reader adventure, Zoey the chicken (she's the brave, adventurous one) and her best friend Sam the pig (he's the nervous, hungry one) embark on a perilous journey to the North Pole. Along the way they encounter a yeti, sled down a mountain, and Sam helps them find their way back home, courtesy of Zoe's imagination and clever ideas.

Simple, cheerful pictures show a mostly white landscape with splashes of color; the pink pig, colored mittens and scarves, and blue sky. This is a level 1 easy reader in the I Can Read series, which actually is fairly high - for a comparison it's a level I or lexile of 380, meaning it's going to be for readers who can handle fairly complex words and simple sentences, not emerging readers who are still sounding out words.

The conceit of Zoey and Sam's stories, that they go on various journeys and adventures with Zoey's imagination turning a basket into a rocket, an old barn into a school house, etc. is carried out well here. It's simpler than the picture books, so readers don't need to try and interpret the pictures as well as the words.

Verdict: If you're looking for more intermediate readers, this is a good addition to your collection.

ISBN: 9780062364159; Published October 17, 2017 by HarperCollins; Borrowed from another library in my consortium