Madhouse Family Reviews: Picture book review : Six Little Chicks

Sunday, 4 March 2012

Picture book review : Six Little Chicks - Jez Alborough

**** Don't miss my giveaway to win a copy of the book right here on my blog ! ***

So will you be getting chocolate eggs for your kids for Easter ? Here at The Madhouse, we definitely will but I keep seeing people on twitter and on their blogs saying that they want to avoid giving their kids sweets or chocolate so, if you're looking for an alternative Easter-themed gift, I have just the thing for you - a lovely picture book by Jez Alborough called Six Little Chicks.

As you can see from the picture, it's a big, hardbacked book full of brightly coloured illustrations that instantly appealed to 2-year-old Pierre, who sat turning the pages and looking at the pictures, pointing at the animals and saying their names or making their noises, before I got around to reading it to him !

The simple tale is a bit of a twist on the classic Three Little Pigs story. The Big Bad Wolf comes to the farm, trying to prey on the six little chicks as their mummy hen desperately tries to keep an eye on them while having her hands (or wings) full with hatching her egg - I'm sure all mums will relate to her ! It's great to be able to point out to older kids that, when us parents say "no, you can't do this or that", it's because we know it could be dangerous, just like the hen.

But it's more than a cautionary tale - all the chicks and the other farmyard birds pull together and manage to chase off the Big Bad Wolf, showing how important it is to work together and look after each other. It could also be a great way of talking about bullying - the Big Bad Wolf is nowhere near as scary once he's faced with a group of people/birds rather than one lone chick.

The book is written in rhyme with loads of repetitions that even young kids will soon pick up on and learn off by heart, and also lots and lots of actions (flap flap flap, peck peck peck, hop hop hop, strut strut strut, cheep cheep cheep, snap snap snap, amongst others) that you can have great fun acting out together. This had Pierre in fits of giggles so it's definitely not a bedtime book because he always gets far too excited ! It's also great for reinforcing the numbers from one to six, as well as left and right (Mother Hen always looks left and right to check if the Big Bad Wolf is coming).

It's a simple enough book that Juliette can now read it to her little brother all by herself and I love watching them acting out the actions and laughing their heads off together ! Pierre has also adopted it as his latest "potty-time" book which shows how much he loves it.

Author Jez Alborough - who also penned the Duck in the Truck series - has come up with three colouring sheets that will keep your little ones busy for a while. Click on the images below for a bigger version that you can print out.

Look out for my giveaway too where you can win your very own copy of the book right here on my blog.