In my bag: "Chick" lit

I didn't go to the library with any particular books in mind.  As is fairly typical for me, I browsed the shelves and picked books that looked interesting.  Perhaps serendipitously, I ended up with these two books, starring some cute "chicks."

New Socks by Bob Shea is a simple book about a young chick who is very excited about his new socks.  Shea perfectly captures the innocent excitement that children often have over simple items (anyone who has ever seen a child choose a box over a fancy toy can relate!)  The text is big and bold, which would be great for an early reader, and the illustrations are vivid, usually keeping to a basic color palette of orange, yellow and turquoise.  It's just a fun little book.

One of my all-time favorite read-alouds is Tippy-Toe Chick, Go! by George Shannon.  While on their way to the garden for their favorite treat-"sweet itty-bitty beans and potato bugs," the chick family is stopped by a large and ferocious dog.  While Big Chick and Medium Chick try, and fail, to convince the dog to let them pass, Little Chick uses her size, speed and courage to trick the dog and save the day.  As a read-aloud, this book provides lots of opportunities for choral reading through the repetition of the phrase "tippy-toe, tippy-toe."  The reader can also practice his "read-aloud" voice by giving unique inflection to the voices of the Chick family and the dog. Most important of all, Little Chick shows readers that even if you are small, you can do big things.