Whose Chick Are You?

by Nancy Tafuri, Nancy Tafuri (Illustrator)

Overview

Tap!

Peck!

Crack!

Pop!

A chick hatches out of its egg, but who does it belong to? No one seems to know—not Goose (Honk!), not Duck (Quack!), not Hen (Cluck!), not Bird (Chirp!). Not even Little Chick (croo? croo?).

But Little Chick's parents know, and—as sharp observers will delight in noting—they've been swimming nearby all along.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060825140
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/23/2007
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Nancy Tafuri's acclaimed picture books for the youngest child include the Caldecott Honor Book Have You Seen My Duckling?; Spots, Feathers, and Curly Tails; I love you, Little One; and In the Snow, written by Sharon Phillips Denslow. She lives with her family in Roxbury, Connecticut.

Nancy Tafuri's acclaimed picture books for the youngest child include the Caldecott Honor Book Have You Seen My Duckling?; Spots, Feathers, and Curly Tails; I love you, Little One; and In the Snow, written by Sharon Phillips Denslow. She lives with her family in Roxbury, Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

A pair of swans leaves their freshly laid egg in the tall grasses at the edge of the pond, prompting the hen and her chicks, the duck and her ducklings, the sparrow and her chicks, and the goose and her goslings to ask, "Whose egg is this?" When the egg suddenly cracks open and a downy gray bird emerges, all of the birds ask, "Whose chick are you?" None of the other birds can answer the question, and neither can the hatchling. But when the mother and father swan return, they surely know to whom the baby belongs, "And Little Chick was very happy." The final double-paged spread shows the chick snuggled up in his mother's feathers under the light of a full moon with father cob cuddling up close to help keep his cygnet warm. Easily recognizable as Nancy Tafuri's characteristic brush pen and watercolor illustrations, the vibrant, full-color illustrations invite young readers in and help them to recognize the different species of birds. While Tafuri names the duck, the goose, and the hen, she refers to what looks most like a white-throated parrow only as "Bird," which seems an odd choice since all four of the animals are birds. Tafuri could have "stretched" readers a bit more by naming the sparrow as well. Even given this weakness, this picture book offers readers a delightful visual experience of nature.

Children's Literature - Michelle H. Martin

PreS-K
As the sun rises, two swans awake and leave their egg on the shore while they swim away to find food. The other feathered creatures are surprised by the sight of it. "CLUCK! CLUCK! Whose egg is this?" "QUACK! QUACK! Whose egg is this?" Then, when a fuzzy gray hatchling emerges, the question becomes, "Whose chick are you?" Mother Swan knows the answer, and readers who are attentively searching the pages will often detect the swans hovering close by. Tafuri's sunlit watercolor and brush-pen illustrations magnify each inquisitive animal so that it appears to be life-size. Children will find it satisfying to witness the meeting of parents and their offspring, and they are likely to sing along with the chirps, honks, clucks, and quacks while they jump into this vividly drawn world.
—Susan WeitzCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

In a companion of sorts to her Caldecott honoree, Have You Seen My Duckling? (1984), Tafuri demonstrates why she continues to set the standard in books for the very young. Well-designed from start to finish, the cover shows a fluffy, gray chick cradled in a precisely drawn nest set against a colorfully sunny backdrop. Beginning on the endpapers, a swan couple leads tots and their caregivers to a wetlands nest where an eye-catching close-up reveals a large, white egg. In turn, four neighboring fowl and their offspring ask, "Whose egg is this?" or "Whose egg is that?" In a dramatic four-panel spread replete with sound effects, the cygnet hatches from its egg, claimed by its parents (who've usually been tucked into the background) in the elegant parting shot. The boldness of the forms, figure and fonts in the double-page watercolor-and-pen spreads is softened by the harmonious composition. An interactive winner. (Picture book. 1-4)

Kirkus Reviews