Book excerpt: When a family brings home chicks from a local farm, they must do everything they can to make sure their feathered friends thrive in their new environment. With the help of their knowledgeable parents, the children provide the baby chicks with food, water, warmth, and proper shelter. Young readers will chirp along happily page after page, learning to read as they watch the fuzzy little chicks grow into downy adult chickens, who will eventually lay eggs of their own! Step 1 readers have big type and easy words, rhyme and rhythm, and picture clues, for children who know the alphabet and are ready to read.