This is a sweet book in three chapters. Kids can say that
they read a “chapter book.”
Each story involves the main character, Chick, and a secondary
character, Old-Auntie who is a hen. Chick has questions and Old-Auntie has
answers!
Chapter 1—The Carrot That Would Not Grow—Chick learns to be
happy with the result of a small but beautiful carrot.
Chapter 2—The Kite That Would Not Fly—Chick learns the components
for great kite flying—a windy day and a hill to run up. I thought the leaf as a
kite was so clever.
Chapter 3—The Starry Night—Chick learns that it is better to
leave a favorite star in the sky where it belongs.
This book talks about April Fools’ Day and makes nods to
other things that happen in the approach to spring. For example, the characters
are groundhogs. The headline of the paper they are reading, Woodchuck Weekly,
is “Shadows! Why do they scare us?” The running of the maple sap is mentioned. A
freak blizzard happens. We are familiar with these things in Northeast WI! This
was a fun story with additional content to be discussed.
This book is cool because it teaches three things in a neat package of a story. The illustrations practically jump off of the page! The book is written in the style of haiku.
At the beginning of the book there is a "billboard" featuring the three lessons.
1) Haiku: A short form of poetry from Japan consisting of three lines, with a 5/7/5 syllable pattern.
2) Kaiju: A Japanese word meaning "strange creature".
3) Ah-Choo: A word used to represent the sound of a sneeze. This type of word is also called onomatopoeia.
