My Little Chick

by Géraldine Elschner, Eve Tharlet (Illustrations)

Lena liked to sit in her mother's garden and watch the chickens. But something is missing in this happy group of hens...a sweet little chick! How fortunate that plump little Alma had just laid an egg. But to Lena's surprise, Alma does not seem interested in hatching it. Lena makes a snap decision and attempts to surprise everyone by hatching the chick herself. However, hatching an egg is more difficult than Lena thinks, and the journey from egg to chick is a long one. This is a sweet book about the challenges and joys of being a parent.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Birds, Childrens, Science

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2011

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance]

Lena loves the chickens on her farm, but she wishes she had a little chick. After Alma the hen lays an egg, Lena retrieves it and decides to try to help it hatch. But she needs the help of her family if she is going to do this.

There is lots of factual information about hatching chicks in this little picture book. There is also some refreshing honesty about how an egg is laid as well as the foibles of human intrusion into a natural process. The pictures are beautifully detailed, and I especially liked the pictures of the countdown of the egg development.

[Themountainbookie]

This book gives an excellent demonstration of how a chick is made. A little girl gets disappointed when keep an egg under the sheets won’t make an egg hatch. The book goes over correctly what it takes to hatch an egg and the amount of time. All the details in this book are correct, which is a big bonus. The book is so fun and should be read by all.

[Inger]

Ik las de Nederlandse vertaling van het boek en had verwacht dat het nog iets meer zou gaan over de ontwikkeling in het ei.

[Lisa]

Lena would really like to see a baby chick at the farm. But when mother tells her it takes 21 days for an egg to hatch, Lena is determined to watch the chickens until that happens. Eventually one of the hens lays an egg, but when she walks away from it, Lena carefully takes it inside to hatch it herself. When her parents explain it's not a good idea, her brother helps her build an incubator.

Although presented as a story, this is very much a non-fiction with great information about waiting for a chick to hatch. There are no weird or disturbing pictures of the chick developing. There is a marvelous illustration showing how an egg is laid (grew up on a farm and never saw this perspective, ever) and the hatching picture, engineered so the child turns the page to reveal the chick is clever. I did wonder why they went through all of the trouble of incubating one egg when there was a setting hen in the yard. This would make a great introduction to a class about to incubate eggs of their own.

For this and more of my reviews, visit https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Jana]

Being patient is difficult, especially when you're waiting for an egg to hatch. Lena loves spending time with the chickens in the barnyard, but she really wants to see some young chicks. When Alma, a hen, lays an egg and leaves it lying in the hay, Lena decides she wants to see if she can hatch the egg herself. Things don't work out with the first egg, but then her family gets involved and helps her build an incubator and learn how to care for the egg. This would be a good way to talk to young readers about the science behind eggs hatching. The lovely illustrations and engaging narrative text make this a good book to share with young readers, especially as part of a unit on birds.

[Erica]

A child named Lena decides to help Alma the hen hatch her newly laid egg, and in the process, her family teaches Lena facts about hatching an egg in an incubator. A good introduction for kids who might have baby chicks or an incubator in their classroom, or just for kids who have been curious about where baby chicks come from.

[Kathy]

Even though this has a fiction overlay, this gives basic informational details about how a chick hatches. It even shows a 4-picture spread of a hen actually laying the egg! With a 21-day calendar on one page to show how hard it is to wait, and progressively larger page turns when the chick starts pecking its way out, kids will get a very good idea of the whole process.

[MaryLibrarianOH]

Walks the reader through hatching a chicken egg. My nitpick is that the author doesn't really explain though why the child takes the egg to put in an incubator rather than let the hen sit on the nest.

[Kelly]

It was a nice read. Not the best children's book I've read, but certainly not the worst.

[Miss Sarah]

A great picture book about chickens hatching told through many steps and the eyes of one girl. I lovbe how she tries to help and needs to figure out the right way to do that. Preschool and up

[Bookjeannnie]

I’m thinking a human shouldn’t touch an egg or is that only in nature that the mother will refuse to hatch it?

[Syntha Green]

This is a good book to show kids the process of how chicks hatch

[kim]

so bad, on multiple levels

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Liana Gao]

This book is really nice and I like the final special pages.

[Vince Cheung]

she likes it about how yhe egg is hatched.

[Jessica Tracy]

What a lovely little book! Cute illustrations paired with a relatable interest/story, and real life chicken facts such as fertilization, egg laying, incubation, etc.