Mo enjoys all sports, even though he doesn't always win and often gets distracted. In this story, he and his team, the Guppies, are on a field trip for Field Day. Mo hopes they win the most medals and get extra ice cream! The six kids on the Guppies group pass by people having fun in the park, flying kites, and fishing, and then each participate in a different event. There's an egg race and more silly races, and at the end each team has one medal. The final event is the swim race and Mo gets off to a late start. Then he concentrates on his form and it's great... but he's going too slow! Will Mo be able to speed up and win the race? With the help of a curious fish, he makes it just in time! Their team has two medals and Mo has two scoops of ice cream!
Ricks' colorful art shows a happy, diverse group of kids. Mo's friend Ken is African-American, like him, but has a chunkier body shape. Mary, who wins the other medal, wears a hijab. For some reason the colors in this book feel brighter to me than in previous titles. The lake is a bright blue, the green pops off the page, and the kids' skin tones are rich and vibrant. This is a Penguin level 2 and, by the way, I do appreciate publishers who put an actual level on their easy readers, not just whatever in-house system they have. This is a F&P level I so it gets a green sticker. The text is short and bold, but the sentence structure is more complex so this is definitely an intermediate title.
Verdict: There are very few realistic easy readers depicting kids and even fewer that include sports, so this is a stand-out series in many ways, not just because of Adler and Ricks' practiced skill in writing and illustrating, but also because of the content. If you've missed this series, now is the time to grab it and look forward to new titles in the future.
ISBN: 9781984836786; Published March 2020 by Penguin Young Readers; Review copy provided by the publisher; Donated to the library; Purchased second copy for the library
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