Big Fat Hen

The story is a simple elaboration on the song that inspired the book, with an extra large format and bright illustrations that add much to the story. Each large two-page spread presents a colorful illustration, with the text being a small portion of the song, Big Fat Hen. The hens are presented in saturated colors of green and blue and purple, with appealingly patterned feathers and playful personalities. As they run off after butterflies or worms, their eggs hatch and divulge cute chicks that explore their world. At the end of the story, the author adds a few more lines, grouping all the hens together and counting them, and then displaying a huge spread of eggs, and counting them as they hatch.

The song is popular with children, and show more picture books based on songs can be fun diversions. Such a book needs to add an extra element to the song to be successful, though. In this case, the extra element is the attractive package. The pictures are a wonderful addition. The hens are each unique personalities, and the chicks are adorable. The book only lightly touches on counting, but any practice in that area is both beneficial and enjoyable for children. This is still a simple book, but the clever illustrations draw children in, and the story presents a fun read aloud experience. show less

Simple classic nursery rhyme "one, two--buckle my shoe" told with saturated colors and a big fat hen. Great counting book that respects children's intelligence--for example, the one, two page has two eggs and one dragonfly, but doesn't label them "one dragonfly" or "two eggs". At the end, there is a lot of counting to do as well. Good conversation starter about different animals and vocabulary around them (and the word buckle).

Another cute counting book. I think what really made this book different is the artwork. The illustrations were mostly made up of bold colors that complimented one another. It would make for a great read aloud for young students.

I love the illustrations in this book. Keith Baker puts an amazing visual to a classic rhyme. The thing that made this book fun for me was that I have said this rhyme with children for many years and always wondered where in the heck the "big fat hen" came from! The pictures tie the big fat hen right into the rhyme. Love the little chicks, all the hens friends and counting all those eggs!

This great story has vivid illustrations that bring the nursery rhyme, 'One Two Buckle my Shoe' to life with visuals and cute animals. Teaching students how to count as well as a few animals and a handful of insects. This is a great read aloud book for the early ages since there are beginner words.

9, 10, a big fat hen! I think one of the better counting books. Easy for children to recognize numbers with things to count relating clearly to numbers on every page. Ask, "what number?" and if children do not recognize number, ask them to use the book as a resource to find out by counting. A lesson plan could stem from this using cut out eggs to work on addition and subtraction.

A counting primer helps youngsters count to ten through a rollicking rendition of a popular nursery rhyme which is accompanied by delightful illustrations by the creator of Hide and Snake.