Market Day

Gr 1-3–The Kittens are finally old enough to help their mom at her bakery booth on Market Day. As they learn how to set up the booth and sell their various baked goods, the kittens work hard to help. When mother Kitten allows them to explore the market, the little ones get a chance to discover new and exciting goods while they search for a special gift for their mother. Through the kittens’ experience, readers are exposed to different baked goods (challah bread, babka, and tea cookies), flowers (tiger’s eye orchids and snapdragons), and shells as they learn to barter. The animal characters are welcoming, as well as the bright palette; however, the illustrations come across as busy and can overwhelm the plot at times. The text struggles to find its footing as an “easy reader” with harder vocabulary, yet the sentence structure doesn’t quite lead toward a more advanced primary text.