Cuddle up with your little one for a bedtime counting story. Five Little Chicks displays large pictures filled to the corners with vibrant colors. Each page encourages counting, whether you're counting the chicks, or learning the order of first through fifth. The line "Peep! What can I eat" is repeated throughout the story, followed by a rhyming couplet on each page. The repetition and rhymes helps your child stay on track and learn the lines so they can join in.
It is fun to name each item the chicks find to eat; a worm, butterfly, ladybug, fish, strawberry, and finally corn! Your little one can also participate by "peep-ing" and scratching for corn with the chicks. Some of the older children may begin asking what certain words are, and learn new fun words like "squirm, fuzzy, wiggly, and snuggle!" You can play a game asking your child if they would eat any of the potential meals the chicks found, or challenge them to think of their own.
I enjoyed reading this book to three-year-old Sam as a bedtime story. Sam starred wide-eyed at the large pictures and let out the occasional 'weet!' when I would make the chicks 'peep!' As the mother hen was tucking in her five little chicks at the end, I tucked Sam in and changed the final line to, "Goodnight my one little sweet. Sleep sleep."
--Audra
Nancy Tafuri began drawing at a very young age. She recalls that her mother "thought [she] would make a great interior decorator." But Tafuri had other ideas: "The more I thought about it the more I realized that I didn't want to fix up other people's houses. I had no idea that you could grow up to be a children's book illustrator."
Nancy's first big break as an illustrator for children's books came when she was given the opportunity to work on George Shannon's The Piney Woods Peddler in 1980. She modeled her illustrations on her husband and the old Pennsylvania gristmill they were living in at the time, and the book was published in 1981. The Piney Woods Peddler proceeded to win a Children's Choice citation from the International Reading Association and Tafuri's output has been prolific ever since.
Nancy says that when she was little she loved animals and wanted to draw them. As an illustrator, she always works very hard on "getting all the facts correct in my illustrations. Each animal or rock formation has to be correct. Even though my books aren't nonfiction, the feeling of accuracy has to be there."
Nancy has received several citations and awards for her work, including the Caldecott Honor Award for Have You Seen My Duckling? She lives in the country with her husband and daughter.