I was recently sent a copy of Six Little Chicks by Jez Alborough.
A timely new release for Easter aimed at your little ones.
As my seven year-old expert was at school, I settled in for my first read of this book alone, expecting to find a tale that was perhaps now too ‘babyish’ for my boy of Skylander and Superhero fascination.
However, it made for a very cute read.
It’s a story about a hen’s quest to protect her five little chicks (and one egg) from a nasty fox.
She is aided in her quest by other animals on the farm they all live, the illustrations are beautiful, as you’d expect from the illustrator of HUG, YES and TALL , the language is rhythmic and repetitive, adding to the cuteness of the book rather than making it annoying.
Even for a grumpy 30 something year-old dad.
I also showed it to an early years practitioner (someone who works with nursery and reception children).
She loved the book.
Thought the language was brilliant.
Decided there were plenty of morals that the children can relate to and be quizzed on.
Also suggesting they could speculate as to – and work out – why the book is called Six Chicks, when there’s only five at the beginning.
Counting comes naturally through reading it too.
She was so enthused I did check that she wasn’t related to Jez Alborough.
And while I quickly established their was no family relation she isn’t alone in being able to relate to Mr Alborough and his lovely work. Our favourite is Watch Out! Big Bro’s Coming! It still has its place on our Tidy Books bookcase and gets read from time-to-time, even though my boy is passed its target age range.
But that brings me to how I was actually wrong about this book, and how my child would take to it.
He really enjoyed reading it, reading it himself, and understanding to give the words their correct emphasis as directed by the author.
I enjoyed listening to him.
As I hope his classmates will when he takes it in for his Easter show and tell session.
But what other books could he have chosen to take?
Easter has us Brits invariably thinking about animals. Bunny rabbits, and chicks mainly. But how about Spot the Dog at Easter?
I found some other excellent Easter read suggestions for children on Netmums.
Do you or your children have a particular Easter themed favourite?
Care to share them with us here?
Ian is a regular contributor to the Tidy Books blog, and has his own blog, Single Parent Dad
