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mat_tobin's review
4.0
This is such a beautifully presented book from Pavilion Books who are a children's book publisher to watch. Here, Faber and May Smith make for a wonderful team in telling the story of a plucky chicken who loves laying hiding her eggs around the garden so that the little boy she spends her time with has to root around and find them.
But one day, Dolly finds a place that is new and strange and even comfortable...but everything changes when she finds out that this place is attached to a huge balloon filling up with air and setting off into the skies! How will Dolly get back down and will she be reunited with her boy again?
As a writer, Faber knows exactly how to play with the picturebook format. Words are pared back to some joyful, short, humorous sentences awash with onomatopoeic phrases whilst May Smith's is given acres of spaces to shares her utterly delightful illustrations. From small clumps of pink-tinged flowers breaking through flagstones to huge, sweeping landscapes that have a touch of rural, southern France to them, Chicken Come Home! is a visual delight that is calling to read aloud. Children will love looking carefully at the hidden moments on each page as well as the rich, realistic wildlife that Polly encounters whilst mimicking all the animal noises too - from the 'caw, caw' of crows to the 'quack, quack' of ducks.
Dolly may be as lost in this beautiful world but never fear, she's full of fizz and determination and you'll love her as much as younger generations loved [b:Rosie's Walk|420403|Rosie's Walk|Pat Hutchins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358594679l/420403._SX50_.jpg|2889655]!
But one day, Dolly finds a place that is new and strange and even comfortable...but everything changes when she finds out that this place is attached to a huge balloon filling up with air and setting off into the skies! How will Dolly get back down and will she be reunited with her boy again?
As a writer, Faber knows exactly how to play with the picturebook format. Words are pared back to some joyful, short, humorous sentences awash with onomatopoeic phrases whilst May Smith's is given acres of spaces to shares her utterly delightful illustrations. From small clumps of pink-tinged flowers breaking through flagstones to huge, sweeping landscapes that have a touch of rural, southern France to them, Chicken Come Home! is a visual delight that is calling to read aloud. Children will love looking carefully at the hidden moments on each page as well as the rich, realistic wildlife that Polly encounters whilst mimicking all the animal noises too - from the 'caw, caw' of crows to the 'quack, quack' of ducks.
Dolly may be as lost in this beautiful world but never fear, she's full of fizz and determination and you'll love her as much as younger generations loved [b:Rosie's Walk|420403|Rosie's Walk|Pat Hutchins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358594679l/420403._SX50_.jpg|2889655]!
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