Review by Booklist Review
K-Gr. 3. Chickens are the focus of the latest in Gibbons' long line of nonfiction picture books. The running text is simple and orderly, informing children about the bird's behavior, common rooster breeds, egg production, and more. The differences between life on small farms and in industrial agricultural settings are explained, including information about the incubation process. Bright watercolors, in a style somewhat freer than is usual for Gibbons, decorate each page. Some pictures, especially those overlaid with labels, are obviously meant to be used by adults working with young readers at home or in the classroom. A final page, Chicken Tracks, brings together a dozen or so random facts, with such nuggets of information as the weight of the world's largest chicken egg. --Francisca Goldsmith Copyright 2003 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-In this friendly introduction, Gibbons covers topics from egg and embryo formation to hatching and growth, and "chicken chatter" to chicken farms. She offers lots of solid information as well as bits of trivia that will be of interest to this audience. Cartoon illustrations are large, colorful, and plentiful, but the terrific pictures of fowl are much more successful than those of children. Labeled drawings provide information on the "Differences Between Chicks, Hens- and Roosters," and the development of an embryo. Some common rooster breeds are depicted, including the dapper Rhode Island Red and the silly-looking Polish variety. Difficult words are clearly explained with pronunciation tips. Jillian Powell's worthy From Chick to Chicken (Raintree, 2001) has wonderful large photographs but not quite as much detail. Gibbons's title takes up where Millicent E. Selsam's classic and still useful Egg to Chick (HarperTrophy, 1987) leaves off and should be popular in libraries and classrooms.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A diagram of egg development (for more detail, see Selsam's [cf2]Egg to Chick[cf1] for beginning readers) is the best feature in this cursory and uneven overview. Most definitions are nicely incorporated into the text and sanitized illustrations of chicken farms, while other information (common breeds, egg gathering, history) is merely presented as an expanded list of facts. From HORN BOOK Fall 2003, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
