The Perfect Nest

Jack is a cat, and he's hungry for eggs. So he builds the perfect nest--see the pillows and whatnot on the cover?--to attract a chicken, which will lay an egg, and then Jack will have the omelet of his dreams. Brilliant, right? But the nest also attracts a goose and a duck, and they all lay an egg in the nest. One perfect nest is too small for three birds, and Jack can't get to the eggs, so he lures the birds away. Yay, eggs! But then he notices that the eggs are hatching...

The ending of the story is sweet, and I like the illustrations. I think kids and parents will laugh at this story. To me, the funniest thing is that each of the birds speaks (clucks?) with a different accent. The chicken says, Caramba! The duck says, Sacre bleu! And the goose says, Great balls of fire! Ha--you'll have fun putting on a quack-y French accent, I promise.

The Perfect Nest is available from Amazon.com
Written by Catherine Friend, illustrated by John Manders
Age range*: 4-7 (Age ranges are very flexible.)

Chickens to the Rescue

So, it turns out that chickens are pretty useful to have around.

In Chickens to the Rescue, Farmer Greenstalk's family keeps having little crises. Luckily, their flock of chickens comes to the rescue every time! Until Sunday, when they're asleep in their chicken coop...but don't worry. Someone else will step in.

The illustrations in this story are so funny. Each chicken rescue is kind of like what you see on the cover of the book--they really are helping, though. The surprise at the end had The Boy laughing every time he read it. And he read it, oh, probably a gajillion times.

This story is one that will appeal to a wide range of ages. There's minimal text, so it's easy for littler kids to understand what's going on, and the humor in the illustrations is funny even to bigger kids.

Chickens to the Rescue
Written and illustrated by John Himmelman
Age range*: 3-7
My rating: 5 stars [out of five] 

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--I usually just get them at the local library.