Browsing the beginning chapter books: Don't worry, Bee happy by Ross Burach

Genre: Humor

Protagonists: Animals, gender not identified

Reading level: H

Series: Three titles, part of the larger Acorn imprint

Originally reviewed in February 2020

Review: Ross Burach, author of various funny picture books and board books (The Very Impatient Caterpillar is a favorite at our library) branches out (ha ha) into Scholastic's Acorn line.

Branches are beginning chapter books that bridge the gap between easy readers and chapter books; Acorn is a step lower, coming in at the high level of easy readers but not quite up to chapter book level. I've located them in my series chapter books, because their small size makes them fit better there and because steadily declining reading abilities means I need ever more low-level reading choices.

Our favorite Acorn books so far have been Jonathan Fenske's funny Crabby stories, and I think kids will go for this goofy new series, Bumble and Bee, as well. The story has three short chapters, or stories, and is told in comic format.

The first story, Best Friends Picture Day, introduces Bumble and Bee, two bouncy and enthusiastic bumblebees, and their best friend Froggy. Bumble and Bee are super excited to take their picture! Froggy is not so pleased. Fortunately, Bumble and Bee have a great idea to turn Froggy's frown into a smile! Sort of. In "A Bad Case of the Hiccups," Froggy has the hiccups and the bees are determined to help. They decide the best way to help is to scary Froggy - but what is Froggy scared of? In the final story, the bees are blasting away on their radio, doing the waggle dance. Froggy is annoyed. Froggy does not want to join in the waggle dance. At least, that's what Froggy says...

The last page has a quick tutorial on drawing Froggy and a writing prompt. The art is bright and colorful, with simple lines and well-defined panels. Kids can easily follow the dialogue and story; the bees' dialogue is black against a yellow background and Froggy's is black on green.

Verdict: This is funny and cute; the bees are silly but never really mean and Froggy takes all the teasing in good part, even cracking a little smile at the end. A funny and fresh addition to your upper-level easy readers and lower-level beginning chapter books.

Revisited: My only regret for this is that Burach stopped at three titles, but I assume he needed time for the many other awesome books he is turning out. This is a staple of our Acorn selections and quite popular with kids who like funny books, basically everybody.

ISBN: 9781338504927; Published December 2019 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library