Don't Count Your Chicks

Don't Count Your Chicks
Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire ~ Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1943

At our house, we love books with strong lessons learned, and almost no proverb is as clear and honest as the story of "don't count your chickens before they are hatched". Lessons are learned even better when the illustrations are genius. GORGEOUS. Everything ever produced by this husband and wife team is simply enchanting. The vivid matte colors and soft hues.I've loved the d'Aulaire's since I was a girl and my sister used to read to me from their Book of Greek Myths. Back in my bookseller days, I must have hand-sold a thousand of them... you'd be hard pressed to find a better birthday present for a child. But, I digress. In this story, we don't have gods, but chickens rather, which my son LOVES... and a lady doing funny things which my sons also loves. So yeah, there's a funny lady with a basket of eggs, ready to go to market...And off she set to walk to town with her basket full of eggs. Uphill and downhill walked the old woman. She walked as fast as she could, but the way was long and she was alone. So after a while she started to think to make the time run faster. "How much will I get for my eggs?" she thought.The next thing you know she's got sheep and pigs and a big farm and is married to a lord... all in her mind. A mind so distracted with greed that before too long she spills all the eggs and is left with nothing. A great lesson learned, though it's the reason my husband won't even let me spent a dime on a lottery ticket. It's the "what if" fantasy that he can't stand... even if picturing yourself with a bigger house and a vacation to Europe can be a little fun sometimes!

Also by:
D'Aulaire's Book of Animals
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
The Terrible Troll-Bird
Ola
Benjamin Franklin

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