LITTLE CHICKEN
by Margaret Wise Brown & illustrated by Leonard Weisgard
A reprint of one of Margaret Wise Brown's lesser works—in itself, a loose amalgam of motifs and phrasings from some of the more auspicious. First we have the dependent/protective relationship between the little chicken and the Rabbit whom he "belongs to" ("The Rabbit found him one day just breaking out of an egg. . ."); in that sequence, the little chicken goes where the Rabbit goes and does almost what the Rabbit does. (Instead of cabbages to eat—"cabbages are too big"—the little chicken likes bugs and worms.) Then the Rabbit decides to go for a long, long run—leaving the shy little chicken to try to find someone to play with. "Would a lady bug want to play with a little chicken?" "Would a furry fat caterpillar. . . ?" Would a little beaver? A big pink butterfly? Not always rationally, some do and some don't. At sundown, the little chicken is reunited with the Rabbit, reports on his encounters, and curls up to dream "a little chicken dream." A wispy little conceit, wanly pictured too, and not really worth reviving.