Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Chicken Thief by Beatrice Rodriguez

This is the first book in Enchanted Lion's new series, Stories Without Words. In a series of wordless panels, Rodriguez tells the story of a happy family; bear, rabbit, rooster, chickens and chicks and the shocking kidnapping of one of the chickens. The bear, rabbit and rooster pursue their kidnapped friend and the dastardly fox through the forest, over mountains and across the sea until they finally rescue her...or do they?

Once you've read the surprising ending, you'll have to go back and look at the story with new eyes, following the hidden clues and subtle plot changes to figure out what's really going on. The illustrations are light and amusing, with rounded comic lines and warm colors, perfectly suited to the simple surface story and the sneakier underlying plot. The nice rectangular shape of the book is particularly intriguing and perfect for a child's hands.

Verdict: Wordless books can be a hard sell in the library, but the unique shape and friendly pictures of this one should make it a popular choice. Also a great book to introduce children to the idea of following action and plot through comic panels. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, a new offering from Arthur Geisert titled Ice.

ISBN: 9781592700929; Published May 2010 by Enchanted Lion; Review copy provided by publisher for
Cybils

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