Chickens/Las Gallinas

Children's Literature

The covers of the books in the series "Animals that Live on the Farm," a subset of the larger series of "Weekly Reader-Early Learning Library Books," are quite engaging. The featured animal is peering out at the reader through an open pocket in a pair of denim jeans. It is indicative of the design of these books, which is attractive with large type in an easy to read font, and bright clear photographs that have kid appeal. The introductory note sums up the focus of each book in the series, "to help children read about the behavior and life cycles of farm animals." The text is definitely more engaging than others of the same ilk. Kids learn the proper names for male and female chickens, what they eat, how they eat and keep clean, and that chickens are raised for meat and eggs. Important words are bolded, but they are not the ones defined in the glossary—kids will need to look elsewhere if they don't get the meaning from the text. There are additional books listed for more information, but no dates are given and only one web site is listed. There is an index and a write-up about the author. The entire book, including all the front and back matter, is written in Spanish and English. 2005, Weekly Reader-Early Learning Library, Ages 4 to 7.
—Marilyn Courtot