As one lost, little chick searches for its mother among groups of barnyard animals, it involves readers in a delightfully simple counting exercise using the numbers one through ten.
August 30, 1993
Elegant woodcuts lift this simple counting book far above the ordinary. A minimalist tale follows the travels of ``one little chick, lost and alone'' around the farmyard on a search for his mother. On his way, he encounters two horses, three cows, four turkeys, six geese, seven sheep and so on, pausing to ask each group if they've seen his mother. Finally he joins up with his nine brothers and sisters, and with mother hen. Like Christopher Manson, another outstanding artist who specializes in sophisticated woodcuts, Wormell ( An Alphabet of Animals ) uses bursts of color and bold black shadows to give his artwork depth and perspective. As a further enhancement, the book's beautiful design and classic proportions are set off by generous amounts of white space, creating a stylish frame for the illustrations. Who says fine art and preschool concepts can't go hand in hand? Ages 2-5.
November 24, 2003
A minimalist tale follows the travels of "one little chick, lost and alone," around the farmyard on a search for his mother. "Elegant woodcuts lift this simple counting book far above the ordinary," said PW
in a starred review. Ages 2-5.
July 1, 2012
Brilliant, glossy, heavily outlined illustrations of a steadily increasing number of barnyard animals follow the peregrinations of a lost chick as he searches--successfully--for his mother and sisters. This new edition reduces the extra-large trim size to a more modest nine-by-nine-inch square, but the impact of the bold, museum-quality graphic-art illustrations is unaffected.
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)