Published July 2012 Penguin
From the publisher:
Freda wants to see the world! Is she a role model for other hens, or just a silly chook?
Firstly I should just clarify what a ‘chook’ is (although the cover image probably clears up any questions), as more than half of my readers are not from Australia. Here is Australia we affectionately refer to chickens, as chooks. Freda is a free range ‘chook’ and an adventurous one at that. Not content with her lovely life, in her lovely chook yard, she decides she wants to see the world. She sneaks out, behind the dog when the gate is open, and begins her journey. It’s great at first, worms and bugs, interesting things to see…then come the not so interesting things, like a tiger snake and a wild cat, and a horrible place where other chooks live.
This is a great book. It’s funny, one of my favourite parts is when Freda wants to escape the snake, and realizes ‘hang on a minute…I can fly’ and she does. I also like the fact that she is her own personal cheer squad; she always gives herself the encouragement she needs to keep going, even when she finds herself hopelessly lost. It also has the deeper (darker) side, which as a younger reader you may or not fully comprehend, of the commercial chicken farm. Freda is horrified to see how some chickens have to live, and she is also surprised at how hostile they were towards her.
After reading the book I did wonder if the message was…don’t leave home, the world is too horrible? But I have since decided that what it really says is this, leave home, see the world, but always appreciate what you have at home, and never forget where you come from!
Who will like this
book: Boys and Girls age 6+
Read it if you like: Chook Shed Snake by Phil Cummings
Read it if you like: Chook Shed Snake by Phil Cummings
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