How to Hatch a Reader" by Kari Ann Gonzalez is a delightful farm-themed adventure that's perfect for teaching little chicks, feathered or not, the joys of reading. The book provides catchy lines and fun scenes, creating a playful atmosphere that engages young readers. With warm colors and wonderful, vibrant illustrations, Gonzalez brings adorable characters to life, making the farm theme come alive on every page.

The author cleverly incorporates humor and hints of forthcoming mischief, adding an extra layer of enjoyment for both kids and parents. The book not only guides readers on how to nurture a love for books but also emphasizes the importance of choosing the right stories.

From finding a cozy place for chicken cheeks to celebrating progress with a dance party, "How to Hatch a Reader" is a charming and educational read that builds confidence in children's reading skills.

This book is a valuable addition to any home, library, or classroom, fostering a love for reading and creating cherished moments of learning and laughter.

Book 27 and 108 (reread 30/9/23) of 200 ~ 2023

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Golly, this book is absolutely adorable!

From the illustrations to the text, I highly recommend parents or teachers... basically anyone who has or knows of little chicks that need to learn how to read to get a copy of this!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you @netgalley

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This was so much fun! I thought it was really cute and such a fun way to get kids excited about learning to read on their own. I thought the concept was just so adorable and so fun! I loved it.

This is a FUN book to read out loud to a little friend!!! How to Hatch a Reader is a super cute book full of all kinds of chicken fun and practical tips for “hatching” a reader!. My thanks to Gnome Road Publishing and NetGalley for digital advanced copy. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Cute book that grows on you. My six year old daughter liked this book but she wasn’t that interested in reading it again right away. However, the more she heard me read the book to her the more she enjoyed it. Now she wants me to read it everyday. As an adult, I also enjoy this book. There are many books out there that children really enjoy and adults dread reading. This is not one of those. Out favorite part is the way the girl keeps teasing the chickens.

In a Nutshell: An egg-cellent picture book filled with enjoyable learning.

Learning to read is an exciting plus scary prospect, but teaching to read is equally difficult. This book works for new learners as well as those who are teaching them to read, giving them simple techniques and a basic idea of milestones to reach on this journey towards textual grasping.

Written in second person addressed to the reader, this delightful picture book offers step-by-step instructions on how to train your chickens to read. Why train chickens, you ask? Well, aren’t they always going “b-b-b-book”? 😉 Going from letters to common words to guessing word pronunciations based on their sounds, the book provides a technique to its own readers about how they can learn to read with the help of their guardians.

The story itself is quite entertaining. There are plenty of humorous moments, courtesy the little girl’s tendency to make birdy booboos, such as showing her dear feathered friends a book about ‘deviled eggs.’ But as most of her approach is lighthearted and positive, it shows how pleasant a difficult task such as reading can be, if handled with the right attitude by both the learner and the teacher.

The story is written in simple prose. (Thank God for no rhymes!) There is plenty of wordplay, some of which are puns connected to chicken and eggs. While this demonstrates the author’s “eggceptional” creativity, I think adults will enjoy the puns even more than kids as there are so many hidden jokes that we will recognise and they won’t, such as ‘chicken scratches’ and ‘fowl’ language. At the same time, the book definitely will be hilarious to read aloud because there are many chuckleworthy situations, especially with the refrain of “Sorry, Chickens!”

What furthers the fun quotient is the amazing illustrations, which are in a combination of digital and pencil art. The cover itself indicates the cuteness of the graphics. The hens and the little girl are sweet enough, but don’t forget to keep an eye out for the fox who appears on almost every page. There are many hidden Easter eggs also such as the title of the books the girl holds. Kids are sure to have a jolly time with the illustrations.

At the end, there is a page of instructions and online resources that can be used a beginners tools for reading.

Overall, this is definitely a great book for beginner readers to feel motivated about this new challenge in their lives, while also providing the adult readers a simple guideline of how they can begin teaching their wards. The content makes the book suitable to all early readers who are taking their first foray into independent reading.

4.25 stars


My thanks to Gnome Road Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC of “How to Hatch a Reader”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

How to Hatch a Reader is a fun story about teaching your chickens to read. But stay away from scary words and fowl language! The puns in this book are hilarious. The pictures and the story are fun, and it's a great way to encourage kids to learn to read!

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this advanced review copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review on the book!

What a cute story. This little adventure showed how to teach others to read. It definitely gets your attention and has fun while doing so. Included in the back are tips to help teach others to read. Great writing and fun illustrations. I recommend this story for home and classroom.

Chickens as main characters add an original and amusing twist to the process of learning to read. The puns in the text made us laugh (FOWL language, EGG-cellent) and we love the way that they learn to read with words written in seeds on the farmyard. There’s a dance party and a play to celebrate and cement their learning and also a fun sub story involving Fox.

Rachel Suzanne’s fabulous illustrations give us a wonderful sense of life on the farm. We love picture books in which the main characters aren’t aware of other events unfolding in the background and it’s fun for the reader to spot where Fox is hiding in each picture and watch what s/he is doing while the unsuspecting chickens have their beaks in books. Fox’s antics aren’t mentioned in the text, his/her story is told through the illustrations and resolved in a brilliant twist at the end.

This is a delightful way to show children the progression of reading skills. It beginnings with the desire and end with reading full sentences. It shows how the skills are based upon one another. By using chickens as prospective readers, children will be anxious to see what happens. It is a great deviation from the normal ABC book. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and recognize the immense amount to time put into making it just right. the illustrations are funny and will be exciting for children. This is a must have for your children or classroom library.


I received an ARC from Gnome Road Publishing through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

A fun book for young ones to help them learn how to read. Gives guidance and tips on what they can do to help the learn words and remember them. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC to review.

I received an electronic ARC from Gnome Road Publishing through NetGalley.
Gonzalez opens the world of reading by showing readers how chickens learn. This young girl patiently teaches chickens about letters, words and sentences. As they gain confidence with each, she introduces more reading concepts until they are performing using the text from a book. Don't miss the fox on each page. Readers will enjoy searching for him and then laughing at his attempts to catch a chicken. Everyone will appreciate the ending too. Be sure to read the book titles throughout for more connections and fun. Adults - informational text is provided at the end of the book.

This was an adorable way to show the process of learning to read. It was a great mix of knowledgable information and funny bits. The illustrations were colorful and busy to keep a little ones attention.

Thank you so much to Gnome Road Publishing And Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

A little girl is teaching her chickens how to read, using all different methods to help them build up and learn.

This was so cute, with really adorable hand-drawn illustrations, the story is really sweet and a great book when your little ones are wanting to start learning to read themselves. It gives you the building blocks on what to do, and how to do it.

The story is really funny and sweet, following the chickens as they start to learn to read and write, you also have the fun of spotting someone that shouldn’t be there lurking on each page which makes it even more fun.

I recommend this book it’s really fun and funny and sweet, it has good friendship and good reading building skills throughout. I had a lot of fun reading it and I liked the way the little girl was teaching the chickens really simply but very effectively.

This is a really cute story for new readers about learning how to read. Except that fortunately, it is packaged in the form of a story about a little girl who is teaching her friends, a group of chickens, how to read. Because let's face it, learning without feeling you're being taught something is far more fun.

The illustrations are sweet, and so is the way the little girl advises the chickens on how to get comfortable, how to spell out words and so on. The story is packed with puns (though free of "fowl" language) which young readers will get a giggle out of, as well as a built-in opportunity to chorus "sorry, chickens" at regular intervals!

There are also useful resources for parents and teachers provided in the book. All in all, a great little book to read along with or start the kids reading with.

This picture book describes how to teach chickens to read. The story progresses from beginning to sound out letter sounds to reading whole sentences and books. Of course, the techniques used to teach chickens to read also apply to teaching anyone to read. The author has wisely placed a list at the end of the book that summarizes the steps to reading that were part of the story. Websites for further information are included.

My favorite part of this book is the illustrations! They are cartoon-like and colorful. Watch out for that fox! He can be found on nearly every page.

This is a fun and humorous look at learning to read, and can best be enjoyed by families and children. Be sure to let the adults read the book too!

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley, as part of LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

How to Hatch a Reader is an adorable early reader book for the youngest readers by Kari Ann Gonzalez. Due out 15th Aug 2023 from Gnome Road, it's 32 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a free verse, fully illustrated, and simply written book about learning to read. It's full of humorous wordplay and lots of "fowl" humor. The art, by Rachel Suzanne is bright and colorful and filled with small details that will invite readers to take a closer look. The entire book is exuberant and colorful.

The author/publisher have also included a short list of resources and tips for learning to read aimed at educators and parents in the back of the book.

Five stars. This would be a great choice for classroom, home, or public library acquisition.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

🐓 This is a cute little book about sharing the love of reading with others. In this case, it is sharing the love of reading with chickens!

🐓 Kids will love the silliness of this book – trying to teach chickens how to read is full of mischief and humor! What’s not to like?

🐓 The best thing about this book is that while young readers think the chickens are being taught how to read, they are actually learning (or being reminded about) skills to improve their own reading ability (e.g., learning how to sound out letters). The best kid’s books entertain 𝒂𝒏𝒅 teach, and this one does it well.

🐓 There are even tips at the back of the book for parents who want to help their children improve their reading skills.

🦊 The illustrations are colorful and whimsical. Keep an eye out for the fox who is always lurking about!

Thank you @netgalley and Gnome Road Publishing for an eARC of this book, which I’ve reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This is the cutest little must read books for kids (& adults) alike!

Quite a funny book about teaching the chickens, with whom the little girl is very comfortable with.

The little girl teaches they must find a comfortable reading spot, and what better place to do that than your bed, DUH!

The back of the book is a couple of pages instructing best practices when teaching how to read, for parents or anyone who is interested in helping children to read.

This little girl is so overjoyed to know how to and loves to read!
She wants to teach her friends how to read and share her love of reading (which we definitely need more of in today's world).

Can’t wait to see more from this author!

How To Hatch a Reader is a children's book written by Kari Ann Gonzalez, and illustrated by Rachel Suzanne.

Summary: A little girl decides to help her chickens learn to read.

My Thoughts: This book is pretty cute. The girl does her very best to provide the chickens with all the right tools to make them readers-with adorable results.

With plenty of humor and fun illustrations, this charming book is perfect to share with children who are just learning to read, and I would definitely recommend it.

I would like to thank Gnome Road Publishing for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you!