This tale of teamwork is spot-on for toddlers just discovering the world around them.
"One little chooky chick/ pulling at a worm./ Clucky cluck, worm's stuck./ What should chooky do?" The chartreuse-colored chick is soon joined by a rust-colored companion: "Two little chooky chicks pulling at a worm./ Huffy puff, worm's tough./ What should chookies do?" Jan Whiten varies the text just enough, with onomatopoeic words children love to say, and a few vocabulary stretchers (they form a "chooky queue"), always with illustrations to help. As the worm grows longer ("What's wrong? Worm's long") and the chooky chicks increase into a one-sided tug of war, a mystery unfolds. The chicks' wide eyes register surprise in Sinéad Hanley's double-page spreads of a rural scene. She makes an impressive debut, with a springtime palette, gently recurring patterns and screen printing that may put remind readers of Caldecott Honor artist Margaret Chodos-Irvine's work.
Juicy language ("Feathers fly, dusty squall./ Flap, flop--chooky sprawl!") builds to the climax, and the artwork reveals one last laugh for littlest book lovers, who will want to repeat this delectable rhyme over and over. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness