PreS‘When Dora the Hen lays her first eggs, she is so excited that she invites all her friends in the barnyard to admire them. Each one, however, is preoccupied with her own offspring. As Dora watches ducklings learning to swim, piglets and lambs tumbling and playing, puppies beginning to walk, and a calf snuggling close to its mother, she becomes less elated about her own eggs and a little envious of the others. When the eggs hatch, however, the chicks are all she could wish for‘fluffy as ducklings, wriggly as piglets, playful as lambs, and snugly as a calf. This satisfying story with bright, cheerful, childlike illustrations is just right for the very young.‘Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Dora the chicken is proud of her first clutch of eggs until she sees the other barnyard animals' charming babies. When, to her great surprise, her eggs hatch into chicks, she becomes the proudest mother of all. Paintings with rich, lively colors and subtle shading portray the sometimes larger than life-size animals and their surroundings with bold simplicity and charm. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this harmonious British import, a hen, proud of her first eggs, makes the rounds of the farmyard to solicit admiration. Dora's friends are too busy with their own offspring, however, to come and look, and the sight of all their winsome newborns is chastening: " `My eggs are nice,' she whispered. `But that little calf all snuggled up is much nicer.' " Dora's spirits are revived when her eggs hatch. Touches of humor‘"Oh no!... I've broken them!" Dora says as the hatching begins‘make the slightly dim hen especially endearing. Chapman's (What If?) handsome paintings are thick with fresh color, and the spring green pastures and hedges twinkle with tiny flowers. Dora's plump form is both expressively quizzical and (almost) as simple as a cookie cutter. The outdoor scenes of lounging piglets, floundering ducklings and rambunctious dogs, and the warm indoor close-ups of the chicks, are equally fine. Sykes (This and That) and Chapman have hatched a winner. Ages 3-7. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved