Chicken Said, "Cluck!"
(I Can Read! My First: Shared Reading)

K-Gr 2When Earl and Pearl start a pumpkin patch, they often need to shoo Chicken out of the way, but she is determined to help. In the end, when grasshoppers begin to "nibble, nibble" on the growing pumpkins, Chicken's refrain of "Cluck! Cluck! Cluck" saves the day. This easy reader has short sentences, a variety of verb tenses, and vowel and consonant blends and digraphs. Difficult words such as "garden," "chicken," and "pumpkin" are repeated several times. Emergent readers may chime in with their own "Shoo, Shoos" and "Cluck, Cluck." The funny, expressive pen-and-ink drawings support the reading with simple clarity, e.g., "Earl watered the seeds" is the caption for an illustration of the boy with a huge watering can, Chicken hovering nearby. This could be an opportune time to introduce a September lesson on grasshoppers while they're easily found or wait for October's pumpkins."Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA" Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.