Chicken, Pig, Cow, Horse Around

PreS-K—Chicken, Pig, and Cow, three toys, return. There is a new baby in the household and, in the spirit of getting a new sibling, their child owner introduces Horse as a new friend. Chicken is not happy. She suggests a game of hide-and-seek and Horse willingly gallops off to hide. Chicken won't look for him until Pig and Cow shame her into it. When Horse is not to be found, even Chicken starts to worry. She thinks she sees Horse in the fishbowl and jumps in to save him, but Horse is actually on the outside. Pig and Cow jump in after Chicken, and Horse soon follows. Chicken apologizes to Horse and everyone reconciles. Now they have to figure a way out of the fishbowl. Cow climbs on Horse, Pig climbs on Cow, and Chicken goes to the top and jumps out. They all get out except Horse. The toys enlist the family dog and pull Horse out with a ribbon. As the human family with the new baby sit in the background, the three original toys acknowledge that new friends are a nice thing. The watercolor illustrations are drawn on lots of white space, making the expressive yellow chicken, pink pig, and spotted cow stand out against the pages. Too subtle to be used as a new-sibling book, this title works best as a friendship story.—Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI