Children's Book Reviews: Duck! Rabbit! and Chicken Little

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld (Chronicle, $16.99, 9780811868655/0811868656, 40 pp., ages 4-8, March 2009)

Chicken Little by Rebecca and Ed Emberley (Roaring Brook/Porter, $16.95, 9781596434646/1596434643, 32 pp., ages 3-7, March 2009)

Two inventive picture books use bold graphic elements to explore the idea of perception and perspective. The enigmatic thickly outlined image on the cover of Duck! Rabbit! becomes a source of debate between two offstage characters: one sees the image as a duck ("See, there's his bill"), the other sees it as a rabbit ("What are you talking about? Those are ears, silly"). Lichtenheld (The OK Book) uses darker shadings of blue sky and a well-placed slice of bread and carrot, among other details, to help each unseen debater make his or her case. The answer remains a mystery, allowing youngest audience members to consider what characteristics define each of the creatures and to see how they might build evidence to mount a persuasive argument. Also, although the two offstage characters argue, they respectfully disagree (often with humor); Rosenthal's (Little Pea) narrative thereby models healthy discussion.

The classic tale of Chicken Little gets a hilarious makeover in the second title, thanks to veteran father-and-daughter team Ed and Rebecca Emberley. The pair paints the title character as an idle fellow who is "very excitable and prone to foolishness." These qualities also set him up to gullibly play the victim and to take others of like minds along with him. "Oh my goodness, oh my gracious! . . . The sky is falling! The sky is falling! I must run for my life!" becomes his refrain. He takes a cloud-patterned umbrella along for shelter as he "[runs] out into the world without much of a plan." He literally runs into Henny Penny, Lucky Ducky and Loosey Goosey with his umbrella, repeating his refrain as he leads them ever closer to Foxy Loxy's clutches. Luckily, his prey give the fox a tickle in his "warm dark cave" of a mouth, which results in a life-sparing sneeze. The wide eyes of the birds, depicted in crayon-bright collage illustrations, emphasize their ignorance, while the spiral pattern in the fox's eyes suggest his hungry obsession. Is the fox at fault for capitalizing on the birds' blind mission? Do the feathered friends need to take some responsibility in their failure to assess their situation?

This pair of titles allows even prereaders to observe and discuss the theme of gathering information and evaluating a situation based on the facts, not rumor.--Jennifer M. Brown

 

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