Adventure Friends: Treasure Map by Brandon Todd, illustrated by Gloria Felix

I may need to speed up the process of browsing my way through our beginning chapter collection, since it's summer and I'm not even done with the A's...

This is a new entry in the Acorn imprint. These titles, including Poppleton, Crabby, and Unicorn & Yeti, are the equivalent of intermediate early readers but sized as small chapter books. Some are in comic layout and some maintain the original illustrated early reader layout. There are currently two titles in this series available. The story is preceded by an introduction to the characters, and a map of the town with a compass.

The story begins with Miguel, with brown skin and black hair, watching as a new family moves in next door. He quickly introduces himself to Clarke, a girl with curly, reddish hair, and they both discover that they like adventures. Clarke, however, knows how to use a compass and likes to make maps and Miguel was thinking more of hunting for pirate treasure. As they use the compass to explore directions in town and in the park, they negotiate their new friendship and learn about mapping.

The colored illustrated include spots, full page, and full spread and show a stereotypical small suburban town with a library, church, market and school and bounded by a river and a park. The two children seem to have the freedom to explore with no adult supervision, although Miguel has what appears to be a simple cell phone clipped to his belt. The only adult they meet is an ice cream man. The text was disappointingly clipped and clunky, admittedly something early readers often fall prey to.

Verdict: This is not my favorite of Acorn's offerings, but it has a reasonable amount of diversity and if you are looking to expand this level of early readers, it's an acceptable additional purchase.

ISBN: 9781338805819; Published January 2023 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library