Chickens

April 1, 2018

K-Gr 2-After opening with a brief example from an animal's day, such as a pig wallowing in the mud and a cow being milked, these books for beginning readers list basic facts about barnyard creatures' physical features and behaviors. The large, evenly spaced text is appropriate for the audience, and the simple sentence structure is accessible, though not highly engaging. Photographs span a page and a half and vary in terms of the settings, activities, and animal types depicted, though in a few cases the text box covers too much of the picture. Captions identify some body parts, and a few titles include insets to highlight particular features, such as a sheep's split hooves. Most images support the words, but not all. Neither the pigs' "curly tails" nor horses' "thick...tails" are displayed, for example. VERDICT Slight but acceptable additions to early reader collections.

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