Customer Reviews

Rosie'S Walk

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Shopping for a book for the 2yo child of a friend, I was delighted to find this long-time favorite of my own children is still in print. Picture-heavy, at the expense of words, the book is best suited for kids from 2-5, not for those who can read.
Rosie is a rather clueless chicken who leaves the coop to take a little stroll. Waiting for her is the proverbial fox, but every time he makes his move, some mishap unwittingly initiated by Rosie puts him out of commission. Rosie wanders on, completely unaware of the mayhem left in her wake - and gets back to the chicken coop none the worse for wear. The fox, on the other hand, probably thinks switching to vegetarianism might be a good idea.

A staple of humorous stories for years has been the idea of the oblivious protagonist. How many cartoons have you watched where the well meaning but bumbling hero comes within a hair's breath of death as some watchful soul (either someone who wants to hurt our hero or help them) accidentally falls into madcap trap after trap after trap? Tons. After all, it's funny stuff. Well "Rosie's Walk" ascribed to that idea way back in 1968 when it was first published. The tale of blithe Rosie and the doe eyed fox that wants to eat her is as old as the hills and still just as funny.

Rosie decides one day to go for a walk. As she does so a hungry fox gets wind of the plump little hen and decides to pounce upon her for his (her?) supper. Rosie takes no notice of this impending danger, and the book is simply a series of vignettes of chicken and fox locked in that eternal conflict of hunter and prey. The text, such as it is, is very simple. It never makes a single mention of the fox, choosing to only describe Rosie's walk. In fact, one could write the entire book out in a single sentence since there are only 32 words in total. It is a deceptively simple book.

So what makes this such a fabulous story? Well, what Pat Hutchins overdoes in brevity, she makes up for with some of the most elaborate pen and ink drawings I've seen in a long time. Rosie, for one, is a joy. Her expression never changes for a moment. This hen is oblivious to not only the fox, but also the world at large. She walks about with her eyes at half-mast wearing an expression of deep disinterest. If you happen to know a typical teenager, that teenager in chicken form would be Rosie. The fox, on the other hand, makes up for all the emotions that nonplussed Rosie lacks. This is a beautiful creature, sporting an elaborately illustrated body and soft melting eyes. It doesn't hurt that every picture in this book looks like it was fun for the author/illustrator to draw. Birds flying in the trees are a complex amalgamation of dots, patterns, and slinky black lines. Even the grasshoppers in the fields are elaborate combinations of circles and lines. Rosie's feathers alone are so well organized and detailed that I'd half like to frame her and put her up on my wall. And though the gags directed against the poor schlimazel of a fox are obvious, they're well executed. Hutchins has a wonderful sense of timing in this story. This book is truly a class act. For any beginning reader, this is a tale to both impress and humble. A really wonderful picture book.

Hi, I am a girl (of course). I am age 7. I think this is a great book for everyone because it's easy to understand and it's good that the author does that. It is neat too because Rosie the rooster is going for a walk and a fox is following her and when she walks, like around the pond, the fox falls in it and so on and so on. The cool thing is that like in one page Rosie walks across something then the next page there is no writing but it shows the bad thing that happened to the fox. It is interesting to me because I think the illustrations are neat. I'm not sure if Pat Hutchins did the illustrations too.

This is a wonderful book. The illustrations are great and the humor is infectious. My two-year-old son loves it and goes right for the pages where the fox gets in trouble. It's great to see a book that has subtle (and not-so-subtle) humor designed to appeal to children and adults alike.

I give this book 5 stars because it would be a great book for *very* young children. But, be warned. This book has very few words. The story is told mainly through the illustrations. It will not hold the interest of children ages 4+ as a read-aloud. The age level is incorrect here-- it should be Baby-Preschool, not ages 4-8.

My Kindergarten class did several projects with Rosie's Walk. We created an obstacle course in the classroom to learn the preposition words. We did a sequence math page. Each student made a Rosie using feathers and a cutout of a chicken. We learned a character lesson about consequences. Rosie was part of our Kindergarten class for over a week. She was a wonderful experience!

Pre-K to Grade 2. Rip roaring entertainment. Rosie goes for a walk across the yard completely unaware that she is being pursued by a fox. Children just crack up at Fox's mishaps each time he goes to 'pounce' on Rosie. Would make a great gift. Ideal for emerging and beginning readers.

Couple this book with any other farmyard favourite.

If I were forced to pick the 100 best children's books ever written or published, (and a very difficult task that would be,) it is very likely that this one would be on the list. It is almost the perfect book for the pre-reader and the young child. It would be very difficult to find anything to critical about from cover to cover.

This is a very simple (yet surprisingly sophisticated, from a humorous point of view) of a chicken by the name of Rosie. Rosie is probably one of the most clueless hens ever hatched. She takes a walk one day and is immediately stalked by a fox in search of a meal.

During the entire stroll the poor fox makes effort after effort to catch her and Rosie is completely oblivious to this fact. After each attempt we watch as the fox receives one comeuppance after another is a wonderfully hilarious way. The poor critter! At the end of the day is chased from the barnyard by a swarm of angry bees as Rosie goes into eat her dinner...still completely unaware of the numerous disasters she has unconsciously avoided all day.

The story is funny but I have to tell you that it is the art work here that, for me, is the real star of the show. The author has used just three colors throughout the book; orange, yellow and olive green. His use of shade and light is masterful. I myself paint a bit, and I have tried over and over again to copy this man's work and technique in reference to his colors and shades, and let me tell you, it is not easy!

The entire text here contains only thirty-one words but due to the illustrations the adult reader can spend quite a lot of time pointing different things out to the young listener and add bits here and there to the story. I may have read this one to kids at least 20 times and the story has never been the same or presented the same during all those times.

Of course the true test of a great children's read is if the child likes it. I can assure you that it is a rare one that does not love this thing.

This work was originally published in 1968 by Bodley Head, UK, and Macmillian, USA and as far as I can find it has been in continuous print since. This is most certainly one you will want to add to your child's library.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I was afraid this book might be too simple for my 2 1/2 year old grand daughter. She has a very extensive library and is interested in many complex stories. That said, she really enjoyed Rosie's Walk. We looked at it over and over. She was delighted to pick up clues about what would happen next. I'm glad I bought it.

I am a speech-language pathologist and I like to use wordless (or almost wordless) books with my preschoolers sometimes to practice their speech sounds in a conversational context, as well as informally assess their sentence structure and story telling skills.

This book is an almost wordless picture book about Rosie the chicken taking a walk on the farm. However, a fox is following behind her, trying to "get" her, and Rosie is oblivious. Throughout the story, few words are used to describe what Rosie is doing. The words that are used are great concept words for preschoolers to learn (across, over, around).

My kids loved "reading" this book, telling the story, and keep asking for it again. I have not figured out exactly what the lure is...it may be that bad things keep happening to the fox in his pursuit of Rosie, and they are funny. There is a flour mill in the book and flour falls on the fox (which shows the 1968 publication date) and my kids did not understand what that was (flour vs. flower). It made a nice teaching moment when I had flour available.

Excellent preschool book.