Henrietta is a hen who learnt to read and that is all she does now. She does not even care about laying more eggs. All her aunts keep telling her to drop the books and get on working. Then when they “go on vacation” provided by a soup company, Henrietta is the only one who can help them because she can read. Auch uses vivid colors and computer graphics to show us the “chicken world”. Henrietta follows clues written in big letters given readers a change to predict what’s going to happen.

The first book from which my 5-year-old son Joshua sight-read a sentence. A fun look at how reading can transform lives (or at least, keep chickens and animals away from the soup factory). ( )