Tough Chicks

February 2, 2009
Stylized, animation-style drawings emphasize the cartoon aspects of a fast-paced story. Meng (The Wonderful Thing About Hiccups
) has fun with Penny, Polly and Molly, three free-spirited chicks who rile the rest of the barnyard with their unchickenlike ways (they don't preen, peck or cluck, and they rope roosters and peer under the hood of the farmer's tractor). Of course they save the day when the tractor's brakes fail and it heads straight for the barnyard. Suber (Milo the Really Big Bunny
) excels at the cinematic portrayal of rapid movement: fence-posts shatter and the tractor gets some air as it hurtles toward the animals. There's little nuance: the animals are caricatures, with googly eyes and goofy grins, and the paisley-shaped chicks are distinguishable only by their decorative feathers. Kids will have fun with this story. Ages 4–8.

December 1, 2008
Mama Hen 's three new chicks just won 't be cute —or good, much to the dismay of all the barnyard residents, except their proud Mama. They race the bugs, rope the rooster and dive off the fence for fun, running around the farm with an unusual series of un –chick-like cries: "Peep, peep, zoom, zip, cheep! " They won 't learn how to cluck, scratch for grain or build a nest. They even poke around under the hood of the big red tractor. Even the hyper-supportive Mama worries that their differences might get them into mischief or, even worse, make them outcasts. One day, Farmer Fred has some trouble with his tractor; it careens out of control and lands in a mud hole, and it 's Penny, Polly and Molly to the rescue. Suber 's bright acrylics fit the broad strokes of Meng 's delightful tale, investing each yellow, droplet-shaped chick with an individual personality. Comfy, round shapes dominate her compositions, which tilt and veer off-kilter with the chicks ' energy; taking a cue from the cartoons, she depicts the chicks ' running feet as a blur of tiny orange strokes. Sublime and original. (Picture book. 3-6)

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2009
PreS-Gr 2-When Penny, Polly, and Molly hatch, they are three tough chicks. They run around the farm ("Peep, peep, zoom, zip, cheep") to the consternation of the other animals and the farmer. From swinging on the cow's tail, roping the rooster, and peeking under the hood of the tractor, the feisty females elicit pleas from the farmer and critters to the chicks' mother, "Make them be good!" Mother Hen invariably replies, "They are good!" But they are restored to everyone's good graces when a runaway tractor almost crashes into the henhouse. The colorful acrylic illustrationsand chicksdance across the pages in a variety of spreads and smaller vignettes. The frenetic barnyard action is barely contained within the pages. The repetition in the text will make this a good choice for storytime sharing as well as independent reading. These chicks are mischievous enough to entice the most reluctant reader."Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI"

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