by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 05, 2010

The illustrations are beautiful. On the first page there's a painting showing yellow shoots of wheat and some red flowers along the ground - where a chicken looks up at a yellow-haired scarecrow. "That's a nice hat," says the chicken, and through the magic of children's story, the scarecrow is able to answer her. "Yes it is..." he replies.

"But I'd rather have a walking stick."

Soon the chicken is off to visit the farm's other animals, and the story moves into a familiar format. The badger has a walking stick, but what he really wants is a piece of ribbon to prop open the door to his hutch. And the crow has a beautiful blue ribbon - but what it really wants is some warm wool to line the inside of its nest!

But to describe the story's plot is to overlook two things which make this book enjoyable. The first is the book's illustrations. Ken Brown studied art at Birmingham Art College in England, according to the book's jacket, and worked as a graphic designer for the BBC. He definitely knows how to create realistic paintings which are still eye-catching and colorful. And the painted illustrations help to bring to life the other thing making his book enjoyable. The story offers a never-ending parade of interesting animal characters.

There's a sheep who wants eyeglasses "to keep a lookout for the wolf," and an owl who'd really rather have a sun-blocking blanket. There's a donkey with a blanket who'd rather have feathers so he can swish away the flies around his head, and - wait.  It's the original chicken. She actually has some long feathers which she can trade to the donkey for his blanket.

Sure enough, this triggers a chain reaction since, "Donkey was delighted and, true to his word, swapped his blanket for the feathers." And Brown dutifully retraces the chicken's path through the entire series of subsequent trades. He draws the owl, wrapped contentedly in the donkey's blue blanket. There's the sheep, smiling delightedly behind a pair of the owl's spectacles. But at the top of each page, he draws his hero the chicken, carrying the object which will make the next trade in the series happen. The chicken rushes off with an armful of wool between her wings, which ends up stuffed around the crow in a very comfy-looking nest. And finally, the chicken hurries off to the badger with a blue ribbon curling from her beak.

And it turns out she'd wanted the scarecrow's hat - so she could build herself a nest!

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.