City Chicken

Rating:
Summary: City Chicken
Review: Overall, this is a very imaginative and quite "punny" book. The illustrations are vibrant and creative with a soft touch - visualize Curious George but a bit smoother around the edges. My only complaint is that the last page really doesn't fit with the rest of the book. Still, this is a lovely read-together picture book.

Rating:
Summary: Is something missing?
Review: This book has a very imaginative story and is wonderfully illustrated, but I could not help but wonder if my book was missing pages. No missing pages, just very clipped story that prevents this book from truly engaging readers. The story reads as though Dorros produced a great tale, but an over-zealous editor got ahold of it and scratched out the magic that would make this story flow. There is so much more story that could have been included that could have made this an engaging story. Instead, the story is rather rough (over-edited?) and then comes to an abrupt halt at the last page. Even my 4 year old was left wondering, "What did I miss?" It is really too bad. There is so much potential in the story and illustrations. I will keep my eyes open for Dorros' books in the future, but I will check them out from the library before buying them. I just hope the author's editor allows more of a developed and fluid story to make it to the book shelves.