Nora's Chicks

by Patricia MacLachlan, Kathryn Brown (Illustrator)

Overview

From Newbery Medalist Patricia MacLachlan comes a reassuring story about new beginnings and making friends.

Nora and her family have just arrived from Russia and are making a new home on the American frontier. The prairie is very different from the forested hills Nora is used to. Most of all, it’s lonely. Papa has the cows he sings to as he milks them. Baby brother Milo has a dog to follow him wherever he goes. But Nora has no one and nothing to call her own until Papa brings home a dozen chicks and two geese. Nora names each one, and they follow her everywhere — even to church! But what will happen when one of her beloved chicks goes missing?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536231038
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	07/12/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	AD490L (what's this?)
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Patricia MacLachlan is the Newbery Medal–winning author of Sarah, Plain and Tall. She has published many, many books, including Lala Salama, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon; Journey; Skylark; and Cassie Binegar. Patricia MacLachlan lives in western Massachusetts.

Kathryn Brown is the illustrator of numerous books for children, including My Little Grandmother Often Forgets by Reeve Lindbergh and Kisses on the Wind by Lisa Moser. Kathryn Brown lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

Newbery Medalist MacLachlan (Sarah, Plain and Tall) revisits the prairie in this tender story of a family that emigrates from Russia to the American frontier. Though Nora’s parents are aware of their daughter’s sense of isolation on her new turf, they can provide little solace. A stray dog becomes devoted to Nora’s baby brother, and her father has his horses and cows for company. “I need something all my own,” laments Nora; her father inadvertently provides that very thing when he brings home 10 chicks and two geese “for eating.” Nora decides they are too beautiful to eat, and he agrees, conceding, “They are yours.” With her usual taut and penetrating style, MacLachlan reveals the reawakening of Nora’s spirit as she bonds with her chicks, which also bring her closer to a neighboring girl. Brightened by the festive patterns of Nora’s Old World fashions, Brown’s (Kisses on the Wind) smudgy, windswept watercolors capture the starkness and beauty of the prairie and the simplicity of the life there. This is a lovely, affecting package. Ages 3–5. Agent: Ruben Pfeffer, East West Literary Agency. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Like her novels, MacLachlan’s latest picture book is a heartwarming—but never saccharine—tale with an old-fashioned feel.
—Kirkus

This is a lovely, affecting package.
—Publishers Weekly

Brown’s beguiling illustrations—sensitive drawings with watercolor washes—bring the characters and the rural setting to life in evocative scenes, with the focus sometimes on the landscape, sometimes on the characters. Written mainly in short words and sentences, this sometimes amusing, sometimes tender picture book is a good choice for reading aloud while also being accessible to many independent readers.
—Booklist

This longer picture book fills a need for early elementary historical fiction.
—School Library Journal

The illustrations are done in watercolor and enhance the story by providing more details about the setting, the passage of time, and the period.
—Library Media Connection

Any kid who has experienced loneliness will surely relate to Nora’s feelings of heartache, and the simple, understated text keeps the action poignant without tipping over into sentimental melodrama.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

This beautiful book will charm readers young and old.
—San Francisco Book Review

From the Publisher

K-Gr 3—After emigrating from Russia to the American plains, Nora misses the familiar landscape of her home and is lonely. When she and her younger brother adopt a stray dog, the dog prefers Milo. Similarly, the cows and horses really belong to her father. When the family acquires some chicks and geese, Nora adopts them as her own, and her father promises not to make dinner of them. The chicks follow her everywhere. After one chick is lost and returned by a girl from the neighboring farm, Nora makes a friend. Through bare-bones prose, MacLachlan visits the same territory of prairie loneliness portrayed in her work for older readers, but with less lyricism. While realistic in its portrayal of the impact of a move, the narrative's slow pacing and limited drama will appeal mainly to patient readers. The sweet expressions and flyaway hair in Brown's watercolors add charm, but the muted palette and basic landscapes surrounding the figures do little to attract readers to MacLachlan's similarly muted narrative. Despite its overall mildness, this longer picture book fills a need for early elementary historical fiction.—Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, Farmington Hills, MI

School Library Journal

This low-key slice of life, apparently adapted from the author's grandmother's experiences as an immigrant child, offers a glimpse of another time and reminds young listeners that friends, whether feathered or human, are among life's sweetest gifts. Nora, her baby brother, Milo, and her parents have come to the United States from Russia. The prairie landscape is bleak and unfamiliar, Milo is still too small to speak, and Nora is lonely. A neighbor, not near but closer than anyone else, has potential as a friend, but like Nora, is too shy to connect. Nora welcomes a stray dog who joins their little family, but Willie bonds with Milo, so she is still alone. Then her father brings home some poultry, intending the birds for their table, and Nora finds "something all [her] own" at last. That her feathered friends lead her to a new companion will please young listeners, who'll appreciate the happy ending (which is really a new beginning). MacLachlan's relatively lengthy, leisurely, straightforward text is realistic without bogging down in details as the action moves along. Brown's watercolor illustrations are the perfect complement, bringing characters to life, mirroring the plot, portraying the rural setting clearly (if a bit ideally) and evoking a simpler time. Like her novels, MacLachlan's latest picture book is a heartwarming--but never saccharine--tale with an old-fashioned feel. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews