A chicken, racing across the barnyard, exhorts, "Hurry! Hurry!" "Coming! Coming!" bleats the goat, leaping over a fence. Across the green grass and under the blue sky, the ducks, cows, pigs, sheep, and a sheepdog cavort eagerly to the barn. There they encircle the nest of straw in the center of the earthen floor to welcome the newest addition to the barnyard as it pecks its way out of its eggshell with a "tappity-tap." "I'm here! I'm here!" proclaims the tiny chick to the exultant crowd. Their jubilation, depicted in full-page acrylics, will make listeners think about the preciousness of each new life, including theirs. With the simplest of text—only a single word, repeated once, in large red letters splashed across the page—the animal's exclamations will be perfect to act out with your little ones. Before you get to the end of the story, ask them to predict why they think the animals are in such a hurry. When you finish the story, ask them why the animals were so excited when the chick emerged from its shell.

Themes: CHICKENS. DOMESTIC ANIMALS. EGGS.