I love picture books that incorporate aspects of art. I also love books which engage readers from the front end page to the last one. Deborah Freedman's Blue Chicken does both that well, and it is our read-aloud selection this week. Some readers pass over end pages, but the students at my school are used to looking. Though I did not mention the need to note the barn through the window panes, they noticed. They watched as an artist's materials were shown below that same window ledge. They laughed as the little chicken saw its reflection in the blue paint and decided to help add color the barn (in the painting). At the very end, they noted how the real barn and the artist's barn were going to be transformed - as well the chicken and friends. It is a clever book, and my favorite young readers caught every bit of its wit.
this image makes even the least inartistic yearn to sit down with a blank piece of paper.
ReplyDeleteThanks to your recommendation, I enjoyed reading this book...but now I want to go back and check for some of the details that I missed (though I DID catch the visual pun of how both barns were going to be painted).
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