Millie’s Chickens

This picture book introduces us to Millie’s chickens and how she looks after them throughout the day; from feeding them pellets of corn to locking them up safely at night. Lots of information about chickens is woven throughout the story, the reader learns about the characteristics of a selection of breeds, where they live and lay, what they eat and differences in their eggs.

Each page begins in nursery story style (Here is Millie… Here are the chicks…). This works well, providing an effective structure to the book. However the rhyming text feels quite forced at times and is less successful.

Decorative illustrations by Valeria Cis (who also illustrated The Beeman by Laurie Krebs) are attractive and appealing. The danger presented by the fox is highlighted well in the change from a colourful palette to the more mysterious indigo. The font design is effective, you can really imagine how loudly the cock is crowing with the ‘cock a doodle doo’ prominently stretched across a double page.

The last few pages of the book provide an additional section with more facts about chickens and eggs. Information on keeping chickens is included as well as different ways to cook eggs.