Review by Booklist Review
OK, it's a one-joke book, but in Himmelman's presentation, the joke gets funnier each time you turn the page. On Monday, Farmer Greenstalk drops his watch down the well . . . Chickens to the rescue! The two-page spread features a flock in a flurry. They're wearing bathing caps, or flippers, or goggles. They're flying into each other and diving down in the well. Those are some chickens, the farmer says as he holds his wet watch. Each family member gets chicken aid. When Mom's too tired to cook dinner, the chickens don chef's hats, flip bacon, stir soup, brandish knives, and generally stir up the kitchen. After the chickens help the humans, they move on to the animals, rescuing the duck, who drives off with the farmer's car, and herding the sheep, who are running amok. The fun here comes from all the frenzy in the pictures, and it will take kids more than one look to see all the silliness. They'll enjoy that second and third glance. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-At the Greenstalk Farm, it's no problem if the sheep get lost, the farmer drops his watch down the well, the dog eats young Jeffrey's book report, the cow gets stuck in a tree, the duck steals the truck, or Mrs. Greenstalk is too tired to cook. It's "Chickens to the rescue!" Unless it's Sunday when they get some hard-earned rest and the pigs step in to help out. This rollicking story, made up of simple statements in a specific pattern, follows the fowls' heroics Monday through Sunday. The simplicity of the text allows the sheer brilliance of the colored-pencil and watercolor illustrations to shine through. The details in each rescue scene will have everyone laughing and noting the expressions of the animals, their crazy but appropriate outfits, and their amazing abilities. Pair this hilarious story with Doreen Cronin's Click, Clack, Moo (S & S, 2000) and David Shannon's Duck on a Bike (Scholastic, 2002) for a lively storytime about extraordinary farm animals.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
With hilarious, Keystone Kops-style urgency, chickens scurry, flop, leap, flap, peck and stumble to the rescue when Farmer Greenstalk drops his watch down the well, when Mrs. Greenstalk collapses in exhaustion into an easy chair just before dinnertime, when Ernie the duck tries to drive off in the pickup and more. Repeating the chorus of "CHICKENS TO THE RESCUE!" above spacious, full-spread rural scenes, Himmelman decks the frantic flock out in swimwear, chef's hats and other garb appropriate to each mishap, and leaves the beneficiaries of each foray appreciative--or at least bemused. After a week, though, enough is enough, so when daughter Emily Greenstalk semi-deliberately knocks her breakfast onto the floor, the chickens stay nestled out in the hen house--passing the torch to another set of quick-off-the-mark livestock. Further proof, as if it were needed, that chickens are funny. (Picture book. 5-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
