Readers who have previously encountered Spike the dinosaur and his duckling siblings, Feather and Flap, will be delighted by their next funny adventure, this time in easy reader, rather than picture book, format.

Winter is full of surprises and Spike can't wait to experience them all! Skating, sledding, building snowmen, he wants Feather and Flap to join him for everything. There's just one problem - Feather and Flap are really, really cold. Much too cold to play outside, even if they want to. Can Spike come up with a special surprise that will let the siblings play together?

Bright, colorful cartoons illustrate this predictable but satisfying adventure of the Ugly Duckling family that accepted their own odd duckling (or dinosaur as it might be) and created a family all their own. This is the lowest reading level of the I Can Read! imprint, My First Shared Reading, but it still comes in at a guided reading level of E, and a lexile of 260. This would be what I'd give a red sticker and call a first level reader, usually for 1st graders and some kindergarteners. It's not a true emergent easy reader, those are few and far between, but it's certainly a good choice for kids who are ready for sentences and multi-syllable words.

Verdict: A silly and fun book for beginning readers. Recommended.

ISBN: 9780062353191; Published November 2017 by HarperCollins; Purchased for the library