CHICKEN TALK AROUND THE WORLD

Chicken onomatopoeias explored in six different languages.

Author Schaefer brings readers on a linguistic tour of six countries on four continents to explore the very similar sounds human speakers make to mimic chickens and roosters. Sticking to major, widely spoken languages—English in the U.S., Spanish in Mexico, French in France, Swahili in Kenya, Hindi in India, and Japanese in Japan, to be precise—the text imagines young readers visiting grandmothers and their flocks around the globe. Two spreads per language, all ending with “Chicken talk in [insert language here],” introduce readers to their respective words for hens, roosters, eggs, and grandmas, complete with parenthetical English phonetic spellings. Illustrator Morgan’s blocky, pastel-like illustrations fill the pages with loving families and a variety of unspecified chicken breeds. While this may not be a read to return to again and again, it certainly opens up the concept of different languages’ approaches to sound. Disappointingly, though, the book ends with illustrations of each grandmother’s egg-based dish, and while the unnamed smiling children introduce readers to each language’s thank you, they provide no insight on their cultural foods. Altogether, a fine jumping-off point for a lifelong love of chickens, language, food, or all three—but with gaps.

An interesting but limited introduction to animal onomatopoeia.