New Chapter Book series: Starla Jean and Cornbread & Poppy

In these two enjoyable chapter-book series, Cornbread & Poppy are mismatched but loving friends and Starla Jean is a plucky protagonist.

Cornbread & Poppy by Matthew Cordell. Little, Brown, 2022, 80 pages

Reading Level: Chapter Book, ages 6-8

Recommended for: ages 3-6 as a read-aloud; 5-7 independent readers

Cornbread plans ahead; Poppy takes each moment as it comes. Cornbread is careful and foresightful; Poppy is impetuous and adventurous. When winter arrives, guess who stocked up with provisions? Poppy should have known better, but Cornbread doesn’t spend too much time on the I told you so’s. As a true friend, he’ll help her gather what she needs—even if it means a trip up (gasp!) Holler Mountain.

If the ant and the grasshopper were best friends instead of cautionary tales, their story might end something like this, with each of them contributing resources and learning from the other. Beginning readers and lap-sitters will enjoy this odd couple and look forward to further adventures (Cornbread & Poppy at the Carnival arrives in June).

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Artistic/literary value: 4

Starla Jean Takes the Cake by Elana Arnold, illustrated by A. N. Kang. Roaring Brook, 2022, 79 pages

Reading Level: Chapter Book, ages 6-8

Recommended for: ages 3-6 as a read-aloud; ages 5-7 independent readers

Chickens are the ideal pets! Starla Jean can list the ways: what other critter has dinosaur feet, gets clean with dirt, eats garden bugs, and makes your breakfast? But that last point is a little sticky, with baby sister Willa’s first birthday coming up. There will be cake, and cakes need eggs. Of course eggs are available at the store, but wouldn’t it be extra-special if Opal Egg herself could contribute that vital ingredient? Starla Jean is sure her special chicken can pull it off. But what if she can’t?

Beginning readers will love the ways spunky Starla Jean tries to motivate her chicken. And yes, there’s a surprise ending—Opal Egg comes through, but not in any way we would suspect. It’s a fun read-aloud, especially if a second- or third-grader could read it to a younger sibling. This is the second in the Starla Jean series; the first (which I haven’t read but sounds promising) is about how our intrepid heroine came to have a pet chicken in the first place.

Overall Rating: 4

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4.5

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reflection: Looking for good chapter-book friends? Compare Junie B. Jones with Jasper John Dooley.
• Resource: The Theodore Geisel Award is given by the ALA for outstanding books for early/beginning readers. Check out our roundups from 2022, 2021, and 2013.
• Reviews: Other Chapter-book series by award-winning authors: Teaflet & Roog by Jeanne Birdsall, Doggo & Pupper by Katherine Applegate, and Aven Green by Dusti Bowling.

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