Ken Brown (1)Ressenyes

grade level: prek-kindergarten

A resourceful chicken enlists her farm friends to get a coveted hat from Scarecrow.

Chicken has her eye on Scarecrow's hat in this charming cumulative story featuring a series of exchanges. When Scarecrow declares he would trade his hat for a walking stick, Chicken sets out to find it, only to discover that Badger, who possesses such a stick, longs for a ribbon. So it goes, as Chicken hunts down the possessor of each longed-for item, effecting a series of trades that eventually gets everyone what they want...

I initially sought out The Scarecrow's Hat because I saw it on a list of autumn picture-books, but I found it more enjoyable as an example of its story type, than as a seasonal read. This kind of tale, in which the protagonist effects a series of exchanges in order to get what he wants, is quite common - think Elsa Beskow's Pelle's New Suit, for instance - and this is an entertaining example. The narrative is repetitive but engaging, and the accompanying artwork colorful and appealing. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for entertaining exchange/bargaining stories.

Book Overview
When the little animals hear that a big, bad wolf lives in their forest, they decide they have to get a cloer look. Squirrel, Crow, Badger, and the other animals sneak up on Grandma Wolf's house, where they find her fast asleep. Brave Piglet shouts, What's the time, Grandma Wolf? and the fun begins. All the animals take a turn asking the question, creeping closer and closer to the scary wolf. Excitement mounts with every turn of the page, and children will delight in discovering the surprise Grandma Wolf has in store for the curious animals.Ken Brown's vivid watercolors perfectly complement this engaging story. And guess what? What's the Time, Grandma Wolf? is based on a popular classic game. Readers can look on the back flap for the rules.

Chicken shows us how to think through a problem and begins to swap one thing for another, until mission is accomplished.

Chicken really admires Scarecrow's hat. Scarecrow would gladly trade his hat for a walking stick to rest his tired arms. Chicken doesn't have a walking stick to trade, but she knows someone who does. Thus begins her quest to find items to trade among her farm friends, all to obtain a walking stick to swap for Scarecrow's hat. But why does Chicken want an old straw hat?

chicken goes from friend to friend to switch objects between them so that he is finally able to have the hat to make into a nest for herself.
1 book

Impulse grab at the library. Adorable (but not saccharine!) cumulative tale with a surprise twist at the end. I'll be looking for more by Ken Brown.

Mostly just another twist on a classic fairy tale, with the same old anthropomorphized critters. However, I found the very last bit a little disturbing - in sort of the sense that BBQ shacks often use as their mascot a picture of a gluttonous pig eating their pork products....

One day when a puppy was playing in the garbage, the famer's wife came in and found the mess he made. She scolded him saying "You're a good for nothing mucky pup! Out you go!" When mucky pup went outside, he asked many of the farm animals to play with him, but none of them wanted to play with a mucky pup. Disappointed that no one he asked wanted to play with him, mucky pup began to sulk. Then the pig asked him if he wanted to play. The puppy sadly replied "no" he was "I'm just a mucky pup." To which the piglet replied "But I'm just a mucky pig! Let's play in the mucky mud!" The two of them played and played, getting dirtier than ever. Then the puppy splashed into a pool of water, washing all the mud off. So when the famers wife called him in for a bath, he didn't even need one anymore. When he laid down that night, he dreamed of all the fun he had being a mucky pup.
This book sends a message of friendship to young readers. Despite the differences of mucky pup and mucky piglet, they found something they loved doing together. It was fun getting dirty! This will surely draw in young readers as they will surely enjoy the characters and they can also relate to being very messy themselves.

27 months - a cute book about trading for what you want. We also read Perfect Soup at the same time as this which is also basically the same concept. Both were enjoyable, Perfect Soup had a slightly better story including the value of friendship and the enjoyment of gift giving. Loved the illustrations in this book.

This is a great book to teach sharing and how to help others. It shows how one will go to great lengths to help another out. This illustrations are colorful and warming,

This is a colorful picture book about a muddy little puppy. The story is about a muddly little puppy who wants to find a playmate, however, none of the other farm animals want to play with his since he is so dirty. But soon enough, the puppy finds a friend.

Summary: A chicken meets a scarecrow and the scarecrow tells him that all he would like is a walking stick. Chicken then tells him that he doesn't have a walking stick but he knows someone who does, Chicken then meets another animal who also wants something, this pattern continues until Chicken finally has something to give away, his feathers! In turn, every animals receives what he needs.
Critique:
Genre: This is a good example of fantasy because the animals are extremely personified, they have desires, thoughts, and actions just as humans do. However, what makes this fantasy interesting is that the author does not create a magical world that these animals live in or even a new world for that matter, she simply writes about it as if though this happens everyday, animals talking that is.
Characterization: Chicken is a round character, he is the only animal that is present on each page. However his character does not get as developed as one would think, because the same qualities are being displayed on each new page. However, his consistency does show his determination. Overall, he is definitely the character that the readers get to learn the most about.
Media: Colored Pencil

A very clever, and well-illustrated book about problem solving.½

Subject
Forest animals
Wolves

$3.99