#18 Chickwing

Chickwing
Author: Janell Cannon
Illustrator: Janell Cannon
Harcourt Books  2000
43 Pages

Fantasy

          I was actually unsure of any fantasy picture books for children. After a little research, I discovered Janell Cannon. She has really good story lines and there is normally some sort of moral to the stories.
          Chickwing is a cockroach who got his name when his wing was injured by a toad's sticky tongue. None of the other insects and creatures in the forest respected him and they made fun of him. He was alone. He started bullying ants and their queen had them sieze him. Instead of giving him to the army ants, they released him. He wanted to help them save their colony, so he made an anteater to frighten the army ants away and keep them from killing the worker ant colony. The worker ants celebrated Chickwing from that day forward.
          The mediums used in these illustrations include liquitex acrylics and prismacolor pencils on bristol board. The shadowing in these pictures make them realistic and pop out.
          This would be a good book for kindergarten to third grade. The illustrations are bright and intriguing. The book teaches good character (helping friends).
          I could think of two areas which could be taught from this book. For character education, I would teach on bullying and how Chickwing didn't like it when he was being bullied, yet he started bullying the worker ants so he could get some food. Another subject that this book could be used for might be science. This book would be great for a unit on different types of insects, but more specifically cockroaches. The back of the book has an array of information on cockroaches.
          There are no awards or medals for this book.