Michael Stucka 2008-06-28
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We've given copies of "My Life As A Chicken" to at least four children of friends of ours. Our daughter, now 15 months, all but grew up with it.
The rhyming and rhythm are extraordinary, as are the stories the words tell. Then it's matched with incredible artwork, contrast-y and vivid and intriguing enough to draw the interest of any child.
When our girl was 9 months, she'd had the book read to her countless times. Then we took her to a really hot spot, a foreign country where it was well into the 80s in on the evening of Christmas. She was a bit lost, a bit overwhelmed ... and simply reading the book back to her, from memory, was enough to do it.
From memory? The rhythm of the book makes it so easy to memorize and have fun with. It's a great book to read aloud, and you can experiment with timing and emotion: "Hens away! Out the gate I must escape the dinner plate. Through brooding woods I scramble, prickly briared, bristly brambled ..."
So, yes, my girl loves it. And I love reading it to her. If we can find more books even one-tenth as much fun as this, she'll have a lifelong love of reading.