Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-This European import marries information and entertainment to depict a chick's gestation-a topic of perennial fascination. Although not pictured until mid-way through the story, a young girl narrates this first-person barnyard tale. As Lena surveys the hens, she is sad to realize there are no babies. When her mother explains that birth occurs 21 days after an egg is sighted, the child loses no time hiding in the coop to wait. A helpful-and humorous-calendar provides a sense of how long that feels, showing the hen in various positions: sitting, sleeping, reading, and watching a snail slide by. After the egg appears and emerges from the chicken (a sequence not often seen in children's books) and is subsequently abandoned, Lena races to her bedroom to pile quilts upon it. A tearful accident leads to a family conversation about the need for an incubator in such situations, and together they build one. Elschner's believable characterization and plot will elicit interest and empathy in the drama involved in and patience required to nurture new life. Tharlet's soft, sunny scenes spotlight Alma, the star hen, with rays of light and shifting perspectives. When the longed-for egg grows to the size of a spread, the use of flaps cleverly depict the hatching process. Lena lovingly conveys the chick to her mother and siblings, whose reactions are both curious and comical. VERDICT Viewers on laps or small groups will be entranced. A lovely seasonal addition.-Wendy Lukehart, -District of -Columbia Public Library © Copyright 2019. 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
Farm child Lena describes waiting for hen Alma to produce a chick. Lena (presumably like the reader) has much to learn: Mom explains that a hen must sit on her egg for twenty-one days before it hatches, etc. Accompanying the well-articulated facts are marvelously truth-telling illustrations, as when four panels show Alma preparing to release an egg from her body. (c) Copyright 2021. 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.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A child learns that nurturing an egg takes a lot of care and patience.Hiding out in a henhouse, young Lena gets an excellent view (as do readers) of an egg being laid, and when the hen wanders off, Lena carries it into the house. A few moments later, the egg is on the floor in pieces! Lena's mom briskly explains that not all eggs hatch anyway, and aside from leaving them to the hen, the best way to care for them is with an incubator. Lena's family pitches in to build oneand then comes the long, 21-day wait. Tharlet mostly leaves Lena and the rest of the pale-skinned human family out of the lively, close-up illustrations, focusing instead on the humorously knowing-looking hens and on the egg in the incubator, drawn by Lena on a day-by-day calendar decorated with a face and being properly turned. At the appointed time ("This is it!!"), a small crack gets longer and longer, until the shell at last falls away to reveal a cute, fuzzy, larger-than-life chick: "so soft, so sweetwhat a wonder!" Being more about that wonder than embryonic development or chicken husbandry, the episode ends with Lena carrying the chick outside to join fellow hatchlings clustered around a welcoming hen, but a URL points to directions for constructing a simple incubator.A cozy episode with a little instruction and a lot of excitement. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
