By Amanda Lynch, The Children’s Book Review
Published: April 6, 2009
By John Schindel and Steven Holt
Reading Level: Ages Baby to Three
Board Book: 18 pages
Publisher: Tricycle Press (Ten Speed Press) (March 2009)
What to Expect: Chickens and rhyme
“Busy, busy chickens. What are they doing?” Full of adorable pictures of chickens, roosters, and of course, baby chicks, this board book does not fail to captivate! It is very well done, from the rhyming text to the fantastic pictures. Also, I had no idea there were so many different kinds of chickens!
I would definitely recommend this book for older babies, probably over age one, simply because the images are extremely busy (no pun intended!). While darling, the pictures can be a bit jarring. They range from the very sweet (a baby chick sniffing some flowers for “Chicken sniffing”) to the rather laughable (the rooster in “Chicken squawking” looks positively wild!). My favorite was “Chicken sneaking”–as a cunning red hen sneaks up on a sleeping cat.
I was also delighted to find out there is a whole series of these. Busy Doggies and Busy Barnyard look eye-catching as well, and for those of us in the Washington, D.C. area, Busy Pandas is a must.