Stormy Weather (Muk 'n' Honey, #2)

STORMY WEATHER is an engaging chapter book with a solid lesson that young readers can relate to. Muk Muk Moose and Honey Bunny are excited for the upcoming Invention Convention where they can show off one of their inventions. When it comes time to decide which one, Muk Muk and Honey Bunny have different ideas - but Honey Bunny is not willing to listen or even consider those other than her own.

On their way to the Invention Convention, a terrible storm begins, and their inventions are all ruined. After Honey Bunny gets over her frozen reaction of anger and frustration, she plots revenge against the storm. While they plan to invent something together, Honey Bunny is once again unwilling to listen to Muk Muk and works on her own idea. Muk Muk tries other techniques, but decides to run some experiments on his own.

In the end, they must work together to stay safe and defeat the storm.

What I loved: This is a really relatable story that children can enjoy. They will understand the frustrations of group projects and of not feeling heard, as well as anger at storms that keep them from doing the things they want. A clear lesson emerges from the story that emphasizes the importance of listening to others' ideas as well as your own and working together. The messages come across clearly through the story with a focus on the way the two feel during the process and the consequences for when these don't happen.

The characters are really fun with unique personalities that come across well in the story. Muk Muk is a morning person with a bit more patience and thoughtful nature, while Honey Bunny is a night person, high-energy, with a mind that is sometimes moving too fast. They come alive through both the text and the colorful illustrations. The images are frequent throughout the book and add to the story with text and speech bubbles that are woven into the story in the surrounding paragraphs. This works well to allow young readers to enjoy the story and the images accompanying with visual reading breaks. The illustrations are in full color with lots of great detail and emotive characters that really help to tell the story along the way.

This is a great chapter book for advancing readers. The font is large and clear throughout. Though some pages are full of text, many are broken by images and the chapters are each good lengths for early readers. While there are some challenging, larger words, there are also a lot of repeating words and sight words that will help readers gain confidence.

Final verdict: STORMY WEATHER is an entertaining and engaging story about friendship, listening to others, and working together that is great for chapter book readers.