I’ll Be a Chicken Too - Lana Vanderlee - ★★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Lana Vanderlee

ILLUSTRATOR: Mike Deas
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
RATING: 4.25 stars.

A sweet little read-aloud board book for the littlest of “readers”.

The book is written from the first person perspective of a parent/guardian. There is no story as such. Rather, the whole narrative is about a range of animals that the child might wish to be, and how the narrator agrees to participate as well, no matter which animal the child chooses.

The concept builds up on children’s favourite games of dress-up and make-believe, and takes them to a whole new level by showing how much more fun the games are when adults willingly join in. The book also helps reinforce the good old days of fun where families played together without any distracting screens.

The animals covered are quite varied, ranging from hippos to kangaroos to snakes to whales and many more. Every single page has one to two animals. It’s fun to see the antics of the animals replicated by the humans on that page.

As this is a board book meant for the youngest readers – the 0-3 years segment, the most important factor for me is the fluidity of the lines while reading them aloud. When a book is written in rhythmic verse, I always read it out to see how comfortable it is to narrate aloud without stumbling or fumbling. This book gets the rhymes spot on! Every verse matches in meter, and the ABCB pattern never feels forced in. The whole book thus can be read in perfect flow.

The second important thing is of course the illustrations, and as that gorgeous cover indicates, the sketches are adorable. The animals as well as the humans are wonderfully drawn, and the vibrant colours will surely be striking in the physical copy. The illustrations are also pretty inclusive, with families of varied shapes and racial backgrounds being included.

In short, this debut work takes a simplistic premise and makes it impactful through the writing pattern, the illustrations, and the lovely thought behind the content.

Definitely a lovely book to add to your little one’s bedtime reading library. It would also make for a nice baby shower gift.

My thanks to Orca Book Publishers and NetGalley for the DRC of “I'll Be a Chicken Too”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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