Chicken Licken: A Wickedly Funny Flap Book

by Jonathan Allen

When an acorn falls on his head, Chicken Licken thinks the sky is falling. Lift the flaps in this wacky hide-and-seek story to help Chicken Licken find the King before the sky falls. But who is hiding along the way?

Genres: Childrens

20 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1997

Reviews

[Nakshatra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made me laugh a lot

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chicken Licken is a fun book for children to read with flaps on each page. Chicken Licken was walking along one day when an acorn fell on his head. He thought the sky was falling down and so he went on his way to tell the King. However, on his way he met many of his friends who decided to join him to find the King. The only problem was that there was a mischievous and very hungry fox that had heard about it and was trying to trick Chicken Licken and his friends.

This is a good book for children to link the pictures to the story. Behind each flap is a new animal revealing just one part of the body, allowing the child to think and guess which animal it could be. Children really enjoy stories like this as they can lift the flaps up and become really engaged with the story. I would say this book would be appropriate for children in year one and year two. It would be a nice book for the end of a day story. However, I think this kind of story can only be read a few times as the children become familiar with what is behind each flap and can start to lose interest as the story is quite repetitive. It does depend on the age of the children reading it though. If it was a younger child of around three or four, I think they would happily read it over and over again.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chicken Licken follows the story of a chicken who feels as if the sky is falling. When he was standing beneath an oak tree, an acorn fell on his head without him realizing what had hit him. Convinced it was the sky, he embarked on a journey to track down the king. At first, he checks behind some bushes where he finds Henny Penny. After hearing his assumptions, she joins his journey to find the king. Next, they came across a gate that once again did not locate the king. Instead, they found Goosey Lucy and Drakey Lakey who also agreed to come with. Later, they stumbled upon some long grass that once again, wasn't where the king was hiding. Instead, funny bunny and Lovey Dovey became the next members of the journey. All of the animals walked about until they met Turkey Lurkey. They failed to realize that someone was listening behind the straw bales. When the animals noticed an important looking door they found what they thought could be the king. Unfortunately, it was actually a fox dressed up as royalty to trick the animals into being eaten. Luckily the animals thought fast and slammed and locked the door with the fox trapped behind it. So, Chicken Licken and his friends were all safe and quickly realized that the sky was not falling, simply an acorn had.

All of the characters appear to be very friendly and helpful. When hearing about the chaos, they all embarked on the journey to help Chicken Licken find the king. There was no hesitation or further questions, everyone was just willing to help.
Chicken Licken seems to be naive and almost fearful. He didn't realize an acorn had hit him and immediately jumped to the conclusion that the sky was falling. He also seems brave for checking behind so many objects and places even though Chicken Licken wasn't aware of what he would find.
The Fox however, came across as sneaky and dangerous. His main goal was to trick all of the animals to gain a meal. He was disliked by Chicken Licken and all of his friends and most definitely the villain of the story.

I loved this book because it had different pop ups and extra flaps of paper to represent where Chicken Licken was looking behind. The illustrations were all bright colors and the emotions were shown in each picture. Whether it was happy, scared, devious, curious, the expressions were thoroughly represented in each picture. The text was located in conversation bubbles half the time to show the dialogue between each of the animals that were encountered. It created a first person perspective rather than a third which was a nice change from many children books.

I liked how this book incorporated pop ups and the texture of the book and pages. I also loved the story line of the sky falling as it reminded me of chicken little.

I would use this book as a way to teach dialogue in a creative way. It shows your students that text bubbles can be helpful if they are used properly and can create innovative ways to combine text with illustrations. Students can then create their own textual illustrations to show their understanding of conversation bubbles.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this version of the story. My 3yo loves interactive books, and this book gives him lots of opportunities for actively engaging. It's silly and fun, which makes him laugh, and that makes it a winner for is.

[deniicrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

😆🤣

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day, as Chicken-licken was walking in the forest, an acorn fell from a tree on his head. Convinced that the sky was falling down, he run to alarm the king. On his way, he met Cock-lock, Hen-len, Duck-luck, Drake-lake, Goose-loose, Gender-lender, Turkey-lurkey. They all believed in his story apart from Fox-lox who had his own interpretation of the event but decided to keep it a secret…

A very catchy story. The author gradually unravels a sequence of unexpected events. He manages to ignite the reader’s curiosity and interest from start to finish. Cleverly written with very detailed and colourful illustrations.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chicken Licken A Wickedly Funny Flap Book
By Jonathan Allen
Ideal for Pre-school and reception
A retelling of the original story of ‘chicken Licken’, who mistakes an acorn falling as the sky falling down. He rushes off to inform the King. On the way he mistakes many animals as the king. Children will love interacting with this book, guessing and then lifting the flaps to discover who is behind them. A lovely little story to create interest in stories for early readers, with that element of danger that makes books exciting.

[elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this to my kids when they were younger! I like more traditional versions of the story, too, but this one is a lot of fun.

[Leena Almashat · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOL!

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wickedly funny indeed. I kept this book after my boys grew out of it just so I could have a good laugh every now and then.