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| ISBN: 9780763647537 Hardcover $15.99 |
About the book: From Newbery Medalist Patricia MacLachlan comes a reassuring story about new beginnings and making friends.
Nora and her family have just arrived from Russia and are making a new home on the American frontier. The prairie is very different from the forested hills Nora is used to. Most of all, it’s lonely. Papa has the cows he sings to as he milks them. Baby brother Milo has a dog to follow him wherever he goes. But Nora has no one and nothing to call her own until Papa brings home a dozen chicks and two geese. Nora names each one, and they follow her everywhere — even to church! But what will happen when one of her beloved chicks goes missing?
Review: It is difficult to move from one's home to a new one, and it is especially so for a child. But when the child leaves the familiar home and the familiar countryside and familiar friends, it is really, really hard. Nora's family immigrates to America in the prairie area where there are no hills and no trees. Nora is saddened and lonely with all this unsettling change.
And then as Papa begins to stock the farm, he gets some chicks. Soon the chicks are following Nora around and now they are her friends. New beginnings. New surroundings. New friends, even if they are the feathery type. But then one goes missing. This is a sweet, tenderly presented story of immigrants, change, loss, loneliness, friendship, and adjustment.
The illustrations by Kathryn Brown are stunningly beautiful. They are soft, defined, whimsical, and replete with unwritten details of the story. The combination of Patricia MacLachlan's gentle story and Brown's artistry makes the craft of children's picture books enduring and enchanting.
It is easy to recommend this book to parents, librarians (school, home, public), and children of all ages.
GIVEAWAY: Candlewick Publishers has graciously provided a copy of Nora's Chicks for one of Chat With Vera's readers to win. Just follow the Rafflecopter entry form below and perhaps you'll be the one to win a copy for some child. Begins June 12 & ENDS June 19 @ 12:01 a.m. EDT. Open to USA addresses only.
DISCLOSURE: I was provided a complimentary review copy by Candlewick Press on behalf of the author and illustrator to facilitate my honest review. Opinions expressed are solely my own. No compensation was given for this review.
Our family did move a number of times. We learned to think of moving as an adventure, although it was a little sad and scary at first.
ReplyDeleteNancy
allibrary (at) aol (dot) com
I also like: Guess How Much I Love You.
ReplyDeleteNancy
allibrary (at) aol (dot) com
We moved from Orlando to a small Kansas town and sometimes we still feel very isolated.
ReplyDeleteI would also like Splendors and Glooms
ReplyDeleteGuess How Much I Love You... would like that one.
ReplyDeleteMoved around a lot.. army brat.. makes you stronger but tends to pull you away from those lasting relationships.
Did your family ever move from one locale to another? How did it impact you? My family never moved. My mother still lives in the house that I was born in. We moved when my children turned 1 so they do not remember anything.
ReplyDeleteRabbit and Robot - the Sleepover looks like a great book.
ReplyDeleteBefore my daughter was born, my boys and husband moved from Illinois to Madison, WI. Then after Abbie was born, we moved to Green Bay, WI. We moved here because my father in law was dying of cancer.
ReplyDeleteMaisy's Fairground. When my daughter was younger, she loved Maisy!
ReplyDeleteWe moved all the time when I was a child, and it was always very difficult. Sadly, I didn't have any chicks or goslings to follow me around!
ReplyDeleteBat loves the Night is another book I'd really like to read to my children. It just looks very sweet.
ReplyDeleteIve moved alot and its always difficult and sad and loneyly
ReplyDeleteId like to read the interrupting chickens
ReplyDeletealways lived in the country :)
ReplyDeletePeppa Pig and the Busy Day at School
ReplyDeleteI have living in the same town for my entire 51 years.
ReplyDeleteNo, my family pretty much stayed in one spot until I was about 16 and my parents seperated; however, at the same time I went away to school.
ReplyDeleteI'd also love to have "Guess How Much I Love You".
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