Hornbeam by and large

K-Gr 2--This latest entry gives readers three more stories about the inimitable moose. At the swap meet, Hornbeam trades his badminton racquet for a trophy that reads "Best Listener." In the second chapter, he plays volleyball on the blue team but finds that his horns are a tangle hazard near the net. And in the final story, Hornbeam receives a birthday party invitation to a place he's always wanted to visit: Adventure World! This is an authentic text that nevertheless provides practice in recognizing sight words and in decoding base and root words with prefixes and suffixes. Don't be fooled by the trim size: Hornbeam belongs in the company of Rylant's beloved previous series for emerging readers, like Henry and Mudge and Mr. Putter and Tabby. VERDICT For decoding practice or for sheer enjoyment, don't let the kids in your orbit miss out on Hornbeam the moose.

Hornbeam the moose returns with his pals. Hornbeam appears in all three new stories, while Eureka the gander shows up in two. In the first, Eureka and Hornbeam head to the town's annual swap meet. Eureka's set on exchanging his old suitcase for a rake, while Hornbeam adopts a more flexible approach, unsure what he'll take as a trade for his old badminton racket. The next story, "Blue Team," bears no obvious connection to the first, with Hornbeam joining a volleyball team. Eureka doesn't appear; instead, Hornbeam's joined by Adorabelle the skunk. Athletic Adorabelle encourages Hornbeam to join her in playing against the rival Red Team, which has a giraffe as its star player. Hornbeam and Eureka reunite for the last story, "Adventure World," in which they join Adorabelle to celebrate Cuddy the bull's birthday. Without a narrative thread to unite the three entries, Howard's cartoon-style illustrations, rendered in colored pencil, watercolor, and gouache, provide necessary cohesion, as well as charmingly humorous visual characterization. The images should also help new readers decode the text, which contains some complex vocabulary, such asbadminton,position, andinevitable. Like previous installments, this one features plenty of humor, but friendship is at the heart of this tender tale. By and large, a short and sweet pick for newly independent readers.(Early reader. 5-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.