WHERE, OH WHERE, IS ROSIE'S CHICK?

Hutchins hatches a sequel to her 1968 classic, Rosie’s Walk.

When Rosie’s chick begins hatching, she excitedly calls the other hens and chicks to meet it—“But oh, no! Where is her baby chick?” Some readers will figure out that the chick is hidden in half its shell, its hatched feet buried in the straw, but this crucial detail may be difficult to discern. At the page turn, the other hens disappear, and a cat bats at the half-hatched chick as it leaves the henhouse. Hapless, oblivious Rosie’s back is turned as she looks for the chick. A slapstick search ensues, with Rosie doggedly walking from left to right, unaware of the eggshell-topped chick scurrying behind her as it narrowly escapes predators at every turn. When a fox shows up (because of course one does) it, too, is looking for its baby, and they are reunited at the same moment that the other hens show Rosie where her chick is. At the book’s end, “Rosie and her little baby chick go for a walk” with the foxes gazing after them. Fans of the earlier title will be pleased by the familiar farmyard setting and characters, thought the palette seems a bit brighter and the technique a bit more polished and cartoonish than in the original.

Where have you been all these years, Rosie? Welcome back, and hello to your little chick.