Where Do Chicks Come From?

by Amy E. Sklansky, Pamela HRDarone

Overview

Read and find out all about eggs — and how baby chicks grow inside of them. Learn how chicks develop,how they get the food they need to grow, and how a mother hen helps keep them safe in this simple introduction to the life cycle of a baby chick.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780756953935
Publisher:	Harpercollins Childrens Books
Publication date:	02/28/2005
Series:	Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Series: Level 1
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Amy E. Sklansky is the author of From the Doghouse: Poems to Chew On and Skeleton Bones and Goblin Groans: Poems for Halloween (both Henry Holt). Where Do Chicks Come From? is her third book for children. A former editor of children's books, Ms. Sklansky now writes them. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband and two young children.

Pam Paparone has illustrated many books for children, including Mail For Husher Town; Raindrop, Plop!; and I Like Cats. She has also written and illustrated several books, including Who Built the Ark? Ms. Paparone lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Editorial Reviews

The answer to the title question is told clearly and simply, beginning with an egg. An interior cross-section of a chicken shows how and where the eggs grow. The role of the rooster in fertilizing the egg is only mentioned. After the egg is laid, we are shown a cross-section of a fertilized egg, which is distinguished from the eggs we eat. The chick grows inside the egg day by day as the hen keeps the eggs warm and turns them. By the 20th day the chick is ready to begin picking its way laboriously out of the shell. Soon all the chicks are hatched and soon ready to search for food. Natural history is presented here with a concern for the esthetics of image and page design along with correct information. The scenes of the hen caring for her laid eggs are attractive, while the sequential pictures of the developing chick in its shell home are carefully accurate. The final scene of a quartet of newborn chicks completes the story begun with the image of a single egg. This is a Stage 1 volume of the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science" series. There are two pages of additional information at the end, and chickens galore on the end-papers. 2005, HarperCollins Publishers, Ages 3 to 7.
—Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Children's Literature

PreS-Gr 2-Sklansky's clear and accurate text begins with fertilization when the rooster's "sperm joins the growing egg" and concludes with the dry, fluffy baby. She uses the correct terminology to discuss the anatomy of the egg and the purpose of each part. She also explains that the "egg you eat for breakfast" is unfertilized and cannot grow into a chick. As the hen sits on her nest for the 21-day incubation period, the day-to-day development of the embryonic chick is detailed in easy-to-understand paragraphs and full-color drawings. The illustrations are soft and friendly, but retain enough realism for children to understand the subject matter. Suggested activities and a list of stories about chicks are appended. This is an enjoyable and informative introduction to scientific information.-Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County, OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

A clear text addresses the age-old "chicken and egg" problem, with solid results. Readers are first introduced to the egg, and then to its parents, moving back to the egg once it's laid, and tracking the progress of the growing chick. Both text and illustrations are entirely suited to the audience; if a little lacking in flair, they nevertheless resist anthropomorphization and deliver those tiny details that are important to young readers: "At one end of the egg is an air space. This is where the chick will take its first breath." The inside-the-egg views show the growing chick and its growing sack of waste as it consumes the yolk and develops into a more-or-less recognizable bird. These images alternate with views of the hen tending her eggs or dashing off for a bite to eat and then returning to cluck to her eggs: "The chicks are learning to recognize the sound of the mother's voice." A worthy entry in the venerable Let's Read and Find Out series, and one that will always find an audience. (Picture book/nonfiction. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews