Fly, Chick, Fly!

August 6, 2012
Unlike the signature, comedic style of cartooning Ross uses in the Horrid Henry and Little Princess books, his textural pastel illustrations in this story about a baby barn owl are delicate and quiet, an excellent match for Willis’s lyrical text. Although Willis sneaks in some information about owls (“Every dawn, every dusk, Father Owl went hunting to feed Mother Owl”), the emphasis is on the youngest chick, who is afraid to leave the nest. “If I fly, the rain might get me. If I fly, a train might hit me,” she says. The older chicks find new homes, and after some prompting (Ross comically shows Father Owl tugging on his daughter’s tail as she clings to a branch), she finally tries to fly and succeeds. The story ends with a fairy-tale series of sentences that echoes the book’s opening lines and points to the cyclical nature of life: “In the middle of the beech tree, there is a hole./ In the middle of the hole, there is a nest.” A conventional but nonetheless lovely take on facing one’s fears. Ages 4–9.

September 1, 2012
The third of three owl chicks hesitates to fly, requiring much encouragement from its parents. As they did in Don't Let Go! (2003), veteran collaborators Willis and Ross here allude to both the terrors and rewards of a child's first steps toward independence. The repetitive, alliterative poem and realistic pictures work together to tell the story. Ross' illustrations vary in size and placement on the white pages. Done with pastels on a textured base, they show barn owls with endearing, heart-shaped faces. Father hunts and brings food; mother looks out from their woodland tree cavity. One especially sweet image has both parents looking on as lovingly as owls can look as the last chick hatches from its egg. Later, readers see the first two chicks flapping, flipping, flopping and flying. When the third chick worries she might be eaten by a crow or hit by a train, the color deepens: Against a deep red sky a looming steam engine threatens. The chick clings desperately to a tree branch; Father tries to pull her free. At last, she flies. But that's not the end. "Snow came. Crow came. Spring came. / But what became of this last chick?" This gentle read-aloud looks forward to the time when the child will have a young one of her own. (Picture book. 3-7)

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November 1, 2012

PreS-K-The soft artwork is the strength of this sweet picture book about a baby owl reluctant to leave the nest. Her siblings have already ventured out, but she frets about "scary" things such as rain, crows, and trains and refuses to go. Finally, though, her parents convince her to give flying a try, and she takes off. The book comes full circle when she is shown as an adult in her own nest with her own chick. The illustrations, rendered in pastels, are charming, particularly those showing the owlet's timidity as she peers out of the family's hole in a tree and hangs on to a branch for dear life as one parent tugs at her tail feathers. The text is simple and repetitive, reading like a song or poem, but it doesn't stand out as well as the illustrations do; it's merely satisfactory. Still, this book can be enjoyed simply for the antics of an endearing bird or appreciated for its larger theme of growing up.-Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR

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