The Sky is Falling

Chicken Little by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley

A stunning re-telling of the classic Chicken Little story, using delightful language and imagery. 

Chicken Little was not the brightest chicken in the coop. He was very excitable and prone to foolishness.

The straightforward story is very appealing to kids, with the various birds joining Chicken Little in running away, until they all meet up with Foxy Loxy, who has a different end in mind for the silly birds. 

The sly editorial comments encourage the children to feel superior to the birds - they can see what's coming, even if the birds can't

"Oh My," said Henny Penny 
and being witless herself, 
joined in without any further questions. 
And off they ran.
Still no plan.

My only criticism (and it's not been one raised by the kids), is that there is no explanation of how the birds escape from Foxy Loxy. Is it an accident? Do all the feathers make him sneeze?  

The delightful (and silly) exclamations "Bonk, Eep, Ack," as the growing band, hidden under the umbrella, run into one character after another, appeal enormously to children, and encourage them to join in gleefully on subsequent readings.

But it's the gorgeous saturated colour of the cut-paper collage illustrations that are the real selling point of this story. The vibrant and exciting characters with their mad ringed-eyes, fit right into the pre-school art environment.  Full double page spreads, with close ups of the birds, put the story right in the laps of the back row kids. 

A real winner as a read aloud to big groups of kids. I've had 25 children from 2-5 riveted by the story, and it's a favourite read-again at our house. The big bold print, and short lines, make it an easy read-aloud for less confident adults, despite the occasional unusual word (excitable, scrambled noggin, momentarily, frantic)

I can also see it working well as a puppet show and/or a magnetic board story.