The Chicken that could Swim By Paul Adshead Ages 3-10

Another delightful, true story by "the Man who loved Birds". Knowing the snowy white ducks seldom sit on their eggs for the full incubation time, the Man who loves Birds decides to have Silky the chicken sit on newly laid duck eggs and hatch them. When the eggs begin the hatch, they are taken back to the duck so that she raises her own offspring, however, one egg is left with Silky so that she too can have a "child". Silky is surprised to see that her chick is different than any other she has had and raises her as her own. One very important lesson is stressed that the chick is not to go near the pond because, "chickens cannot swim". However, the chick falls into the pond and discovers that she is not a duckling but a "swimming chicken". On every page, the story teller is hiding.

Benefits:

* develops vocabulary as new words are introduced
* uses colour, double-page spreads - beautiful illustrations
* emphasizes visual images
* illustrations blend with the text to add interest
* projects human traits onto animal characters
* promotes discussion on care of animals and birds
* encourages use of visual motor and observational skills as child and parent try to find the hidden story teller on each page
* engages the child in emergent reading behavior as the child "re-reads" the story alone using the illustrations to re-tell the story in their own language
* utilizes a very attractive format which directly relates to the text
* provides opportunity to discuss how people are different
* provides opportunity to discuss adoption, belonging to different families

Extended Thinking:
 
* "If you could be any character in the book, who would you be and why?"
* list the frequency of the little animals - cg., how many times do we see the mouse? the ladybug? the rabbit?, the hedgehog? the frog?
* plan a field trip to see real chickens and ducks

*Art Work - beautiful illustrations using a combination of media
- colours are bright and the illustrating is very realistic
*Binding - stitched