Chook Chook: Little and Lo in the City (Wai Chim, UQP)

This entertaining story begins in rural China. Mei lives on a farm with her mother, brother and two beloved chooks, Little and Lo. Everyone is getting along harmoniously until Mei’s widowed mother announces that she is going to marry Jin, the one-eyed butcher. Soon Mei has a new stepbrother and a basement full of the butcher’s smoked carcasses. When Mei’s beloved older brother Guo leaves for university, she decides to run away with her chickens to find him. The story shifts to Guangzhou City and then to Gou’s small room in college, where mayhem ensues with the chickens, followed by a happy resolution for everyone. Despite the exotic setting, the themes of this book are universal. Mei’s sense of being on the outer of her new family will be familiar to any child of a blended family. While most young children don’t hop on a train to the big city to escape their problems, many will know the feeling of wanting to. This is the second ‘Chook Chook’ book from author Wai Chim, following Chook Chook: Mei’s Secret Pets. There is not much in the way of Chinese culture in the text, although this may have been the author’s decision to make her book about a childhood experience rather than a Chinese one. This book is recommended for independent readers aged eight to 10.

Louise Pfanner is an author and illustrator, and works part-time in a bookstore

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews