Little Naomi, Little Chick

This clever book tells two stories, one about a er named Naomi, the other about a little chick. The girl starts her day with a big wake-up stretch, some tooth-brushing, and breakfast. Then it's off to for Naomi..."But not Little Chick." Left-hand pages describe Naomi's typical day--playing with friends, listening to stories, finger-painting, swinging at the playground--with spare, tidy spot art at the bottom of the pages illustrating the activities. Meanwhile, on right-hand pages, Little Chick's day on the farm unfolds in expansive, comical, crayon and pencil illustrations. The chick and its friends--a duck, a mole, and a sheep--have small adventures that loosely parallel Naomi's experiences: while she's eating lunch, for example, Little Chick and the duck tug worms out of the ground for their own midday snack. Although the farm story is wordless, the illustrations say it all, capturing, through cartoony creatures and slapstick reaction shots, the tale's humor and also its warmth. For Naomi's part, the text in sometime-rhyme (not the translation's strong point) is simple and accessible, with the refrain "But not Little Chick" leading children straight from Naomi's familiar activities back into that silly farm-animal setting. Several visual elements--the deely-boppers on Naomi's head resemble Little Chick's tufts of feathers, for example, and there is a picture of Little Chick on Naomi's bedroom wall--gracefully unite these two worlds of play. elissa gershowitz