Where Are My Chicks? - Hardcover

Sally Grindley lives in Cheltenham. She has been involved with children's books nearly all her working life, first as editor of the children's book club Books for Children and for almost as long as a children's author. This is Sally's sixth novel for Bloomsbury. Spilled Water won a Smarties Gold Medal as well as other regional awards such as the Lincolnshire Young People's Award. Jill Newton worked extensively in design and has illustrated many beautiful children's books for Bloomsbury, including WHERE ARE MY CHICKS, PLEASE DON'T CHAT TO THE BUS DRIVER and BORED CLAUDE.

A British pair demonstrates the virtues of humility in this lushly illustrated volume. Mother Hen frantically clucks like, well, a mother hen: "My chicks, my chicks! I've lost my chicks!" while the snooty goose casts aspersions on the hen's parenting skills (" `You should take better care of your chicks,' said Mother Goose"). But with some reconnaissance work by the other farm inhabitants, and enumerating assistance by a wise owl, all four are accounted for along with a quartet of errant goslings. When Mother Hen admonishes the goose parent in kind, however, she loses track of her chicks once more. Grindley's minimalist text moves the story forward apace, while Newton's softly textured, full-bleed acrylic illustrations carry the show. There's a luscious depth to her neon palette, and her chunky-looking animal and insect cast contributes to a strong graphic pull and an appealing comic heft. Ages 1-3.

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