Chicken Little

You know, I never liked the more traditional versions of this tale. But this one (very subtly, in the midst of all the hilarity) reveals the vulnerability of crowds to delusions, a special kind of mob mentality. So, good lesson. But, again, mostly funny. A reliable author; I love his books about big numbers and just about everything else I've encountered by him. Gotta see if there's more that I'm missing....

The tale is basically the same as the one you probably read as a child, but Foxy Loxy tries to be a Wile Coyote type of predator, and help for the fowl comes in an unexpected manner and from an unusual location. Fun read with marvelous illustrations!

CHICKEN LITTLE is a fairytale that involves many animals. The story is really about Chicken Little, who think the sky is falling so she screams for help when all of her friends come to help her, they decide they need the police. The policeman that showed up to where they were was not the real police, it was Foxy Loxy, the fox that was wanted in town for kidnapping poultry. In the end, Foxy Loxy was arrested and the poultry friends lived on. The illustrations which were created for this book are very detailed ad politically correct. They show a lot of details that can capture the attention while reading this story. Another aspect to these drawings are that the feelings of the poultry are shown in the characters faces. The power is in the show more hands of the fox for most of this story, similar to how the fox is in power for a lot of other stories as well. One lesson to take away from this story is to not assume that something bad is happening right away. It may be good to investigate what happens, rather than assume that “the sky is falling” in this case. For children, a good thing to learn would be is to be aware of who is around, because something may happen that shouldn’t be happening to you. Chicken Little did a good job of remembering who Foxy Loxy was but she needs to be sure that he tells his friends earlier from now on. show less

Chicken Little is on her way home when something hits her on the head. She doesn’t realize that it’s just an acorn and she thinks that the sky is falling! Several friends come by to see what’s wrong and when they hear the bad news they freak out and try to solve the problem. Meanwhile, the wolf is hiding in the bushes planning to capture and eat Chicken Little and all her friends. He comes up with a plan but Chicken Little ends up saving the day!

Although I remember reading this book as a child, I didn’t really enjoy it the second time around. The story causes too much stress and anxiety for me because obviously the sky isn’t falling but Chicken Little causes all her friends to freak out. However, I liked it as a kid so maybe show more it appeals to children.

A teacher could use this book to sharpen the skill of predicting endings to books. The teacher could read the beginning of the story and have the children create their own ending. This book has various animals throughout it so this would be a great book to read to younger children who are just learning and becoming familiar with farm animals. show less

This story is about a fox that tries to capture a group of birds to eat. He watches as Chicken Little walks by and an acorn falls from a tree above right onto her head. Chicken Little thinks the sky is falling, so while crying for help, Foxy Loxy gets ready to pounce on Chicken Little. But then, Henny Penny comes and listens to Chicken Little. Each time Foxy Loxy is about to pounce, another bird-related character arrives at the scene. The fox tries to fool them by dressing up as a police officer and throws them in his truck. When he tosses the acorn in the air after explaining to Chicken Little that it was what hit her on the head, the acorn jams the propeller on a helicoptor and Seargent Hippo Hefty parachutes down and catches Foxy show more Loxy. The story ends with Chicken Little planting that acorn in her yard and years later telling her story to her grandchildren.

I really liked this version of Chicken Little. I had only seen the Disney version of it and was not impressed, so I wasn’t really excited about reading this book. However, Kellogg’s version was much better and clever. It is really funny how the fox imagines all the bird-characters as poultry; Goosey Lucy, Turkey Lurkey, Henny Penny, etc. My children will like this story, but being so young (2 and 3) I don’t think they will get the humor behind it.

Discussion is always a good extension to a book. The class could talk about whether it is possible or not for the sky to be falling. They could discuss what they would do if they were Chicken Little and felt something hit their head, or if they were one of the other characters who heard Chicken Little cry for help. Another idea would be to have the students create their own “wanted” posters of Foxy Loxy and let them describe him in their own words. show less

I really liked this story and found it very entertaining to read. I liked the allitiration in the names of the characters. Names such as "Hippo Hefty," were fun to read because it flows nicely. The rhyming names like "Foxy Loxy," also flowed and added humor to the book. Another reason I liked this book was the thought bubbles given to Foxy Loxy. These thought bubbles said what he wanted to do and the future scene he saw in his head. I liked that aspect of the book because it gave foreshadowing to future events and showed the character traits of Foxy Loxy. The main message of this story is to be cautious of strangers and be careful when you warn people without being sure.

I remember reading this as a child and I am still in awe of the wonderful work done on the illustrations. They are so detailed but not overdone. They require extra observation to see everything that is meant to be seen. Not to mention this story is full of humor which made it extra fun to read. I loved it!