One Little Chicken: A Counting Book

Publishers Weekly

Terpsichore-inspired poultry drive this genial counting book. "Five chickens put on five grass skirts," writes Elliott (And Here's to You!)- this being a G-rated book, the hens all wear bikini tops-"Then they hula/ and they hula/ and they hula/ till it hurts." No genre seems immune from the chickens' dance fever: Long portrays them doing ballet, ballroom, swing, jive and even the shimmy. The digital illustrations lack the sweetly manic quality of Long's work for Mañana, Iguana-the colors from his agreeable sherbet palette lack depth and characters feel a little too neatly contained. But a dancing chicken is always good for a giggle, and very young readers will undoubtedly appreciate the direct order, proffered at book's end, to get up and dance with the rest of the henhouse "till the cows come home." Ages 2-5. (Oct.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz

Count the jolly dancing chickens from one to ten in rhythm and rhyme as they twirl like a top, do the bunny hop, and otherwise engage in a variety of dances from ballet to cha-cha. They cavort wildly or pose with dignity across the double pages, but "one little chicken will not bugaloo. Who is that little chicken? Oh my gosh! It's you!" So you, reader, had better "get up and shake a leg." Join the fun and dance "till the cows come home." Long uses "the help of Mac and a little mouse" to create the comic chickens, although they might also have been made with cut paper. What counts here is the use of dozens of colors set on pages of varying hues, with numbers clearly defined. The contrasts stimulate the smiles as the chickens put on grass skirts and "hula till it hurts" or "shimmy shimmy SHAKE!"

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2
Plump poultry take to the dance floor as a rhyming text helps young readers count from 1 to 10. The fowls' faces are wonderfully expressive-a haughty ballerina with closed eyes and down-turned mouth contrasts with the seven gleeful birds that "get up and bump and grind." Five chickens do the hula in grass skirts, while nine dance the cha-cha in Latin costumes. After the count finishes with 10 energetic individuals who "shimmy shimmy/SHAKE," the action stops, as the birds stare out at readers with wide-open, egg-shaped eyes, and the text declares, "But one little chicken/will not bugaloo." A turn of the page informs children, "Oh my gosh! It's you!" and they are then encouraged to "Make your own music/with wax paper and a comb/and dance! dance! dance!/till the cows come home." The computer-generated illustrations are mostly done in pastel shades-pastel chickens, pastel costumes, pastel backgrounds, and occasionally pastel lettering. Some spreads, like the last one done mainly in lavenders with a little yellow, appear faded or unfinished. The outlines are a little faint for large group sharing. Nonetheless, these birds are having a great time, and youngsters will want to "get up and shake a leg" and join the fun.
—Mary Jean SmithCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

This counting book shows different chickens doing diverse dances until they reach the number ten. Things come to a halt, however, when the author addresses the reader by pointing out that one chicken is not cooperating: the reader. Encouraged to make music with a comb kazoo, the author suggests the reader start dancing the night away. Though the dances shown are varied and fun, they may not all be familiar to children. Long's pictures are surprisingly washed-out-looking even though he uses a wide palette of colors. However, the backgrounds are painted in such drab colors that the more vibrantly colored pictures of the chickens dancing are somehow lost on the page. The author's rhymes will probably succeed better as a read-aloud, allowing for an active story time. Not one of the more necessary counting books available, it's a bit of a disappointment. (Picture book. 2-4)