What do you think?
Rate this book
Chip
Chip, like most other gulls, is wild about chips. He likes fat chips, skinny chips, sandy or crunchy or soggy chips. But, most of all, he loves Joe’s chips from Joe’s Chip Van beside the sea.
Chip, like most other gulls, can be a little intrusive on his search for chips. So, one day, Joe erects a sign near his van warning people not to feed the seagulls. Chip is devastated, so he plans a way to get back into Joe’s good books, thus gaining access once more to his favourite food.
Will Chip succeed, or has he gone to far this time?
Chip, like most other gulls, can be a little intrusive on his search for chips. So, one day, Joe erects a sign near his van warning people not to feed the seagulls. Chip is devastated, so he plans a way to get back into Joe’s good books, thus gaining access once more to his favourite food.
Will Chip succeed, or has he gone to far this time?
32 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 2016
25 people want to read
About the author
Kylie Howarth
17 books14 followersKylie is an award-winning, internationally published children's book author and illustrator from Western Australia. She was raised in the country alongside her brother, dog, sheep, several orphaned kangaroos and one very cheeky echidna. Her obsession with animals also extends underwater as she has braved lionfish in Egypt, piranha and pink dolphins in the Amazon, marine iguanas and hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands and swum with whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales at Ningaloo, Western Australia. The textures in Kylie's picture book illustrations are created with her two adventurous young boys during their backyard art sessions.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 28, 2017
This book is adorable, but I have to admit after performing it three times a day for the past fortnight for Children's Book Week, it has lost a tiny bit of its charm. The kids love it though.
December 3, 2017
We've all been there - sitting down by the ocean about to snack on a hot chip when swoop - out of your hand that delicacy is taken away by none other than a seagull.
Chip by Kylie Howarth is a fun book that tells the tale of a seagull and his friends who are banned from the local fish and chip shop.
The seagulls - so used to having food on tap are in distress and hungry! That is until Chip - our feathery hero comes up with an idea that is going to save the seagulls from impending starvation.
You'll have to read this book to believe that seagulls aren't just those pesky birds who hassle you for your hot chips but rather creative, clever and charming friends.
Kylie Howarth also has left a fantastic underlying message - seagulls aren't meant to eat chips and if we all tidied up our mess, put it in the bin or even took the leftovers home perhaps these scavengers would hassle us as much.
Many ocean birds do become sick when they eat too much of this unhealthy food and forget how to hunt for themselves. Unknowingly many of us are creating these creatures to behave the way they do by our simple attitude of not thinking about where our rubbish of left overs go.
This book was shortlisted for the CBCA picture book of the year - and it was very well deserved!
So what can you do with this book? head to educate empower.blog
Chip by Kylie Howarth is a fun book that tells the tale of a seagull and his friends who are banned from the local fish and chip shop.
The seagulls - so used to having food on tap are in distress and hungry! That is until Chip - our feathery hero comes up with an idea that is going to save the seagulls from impending starvation.
You'll have to read this book to believe that seagulls aren't just those pesky birds who hassle you for your hot chips but rather creative, clever and charming friends.
Kylie Howarth also has left a fantastic underlying message - seagulls aren't meant to eat chips and if we all tidied up our mess, put it in the bin or even took the leftovers home perhaps these scavengers would hassle us as much.
Many ocean birds do become sick when they eat too much of this unhealthy food and forget how to hunt for themselves. Unknowingly many of us are creating these creatures to behave the way they do by our simple attitude of not thinking about where our rubbish of left overs go.
This book was shortlisted for the CBCA picture book of the year - and it was very well deserved!
So what can you do with this book? head to educate empower.blog
May 15, 2017
Chip is a greedy seagull who scavenges fish and chip - and becomes an obsessive chip eater. The HOt food seller with a chip van at the local beach is fed up with marauding seagulls, and Chip in particular. He puts up a sign telling customers not to feed the seagulls - Chip is devastated and starving. He and others in the flock come up with a clever solution that solves the problem and keeps the chippie happy (and the birds healthy ;-)
This is a delightful and humorous story using bold colours to emphasise the white seagulls and the ocean setting. Visual lettering to add expression, witty rhyme and expressive body language create individual characters within the seagull flock, with Chip standing out.
Shortlisted for the 2017 CBCA Book of the Year: Early Childhood.
This is a delightful and humorous story using bold colours to emphasise the white seagulls and the ocean setting. Visual lettering to add expression, witty rhyme and expressive body language create individual characters within the seagull flock, with Chip standing out.
Shortlisted for the 2017 CBCA Book of the Year: Early Childhood.
July 4, 2020
Chip is a seagull who loves hot chips even ones with spicy chilli sauce on them (though they make him sick). The illustrations are simple but I find them super pleasing on the eyes. The story is kinda so-so because I noticed the child I was reading it to wasn't that interested in it at all and couldn't wait for it to be over with. But for me I liked the illustrations more. If I could give half stars this would get a 4.5
October 25, 2018
I loved this book. Very funny and terrifyingly true in the way it depicts seagulls attacking chip eating people.
Great book for storytime as you could also bring up ethical behaviours around littering and feeding animals food meant for humans.
Great book for storytime as you could also bring up ethical behaviours around littering and feeding animals food meant for humans.
July 20, 2017
Clever twist on an old story about a greedy seagull. Beautifully designed - right down to the end papers.
July 31, 2017
Read for Children's Book Council of Australia book awards 2017.
Cute and imaginative. Nice clear illustrations. Appreciate the firm (as in non-washy-washy) ending.
Cute and imaginative. Nice clear illustrations. Appreciate the firm (as in non-washy-washy) ending.
November 20, 2021
I liked this one.
April 3, 2023
Boys loved this story. Was a regular pick from the library collection.
March 13, 2016
I received a copy of this title from the publisher for review.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Chip and his friends will do anything for the salty goodness of an abandoned chip. When signs appear warning tourists not to feed the seagulls, Chip must do some creative problem-solving or face losing his favourite food forever!
From the greasy-looking endpapers to the incredible, fold-out page spread in the middle, Chip is a book that will have you cheering for our gullish hero, before rushing out to feast on some fish and chips. The story follows Chip, a chip-loving seagull, whose chip supply is suddenly cut off when his (and his fellow gulls’) behaviour leads to the posting of signs warning visitors not to feed the gulls.
When multiple stealthy attempts to obtain those little sacks of salty potato delight are thwarted, Chip and his friends must think outside the box if they ever want to taste the goodness of free food again. Now before you leap onto your soapbox, proclaiming the wrongs of feeding human food to wild creatures, the surprise ending of the book gently conveys this message while ensuring that Chip and his friends can still enjoy the odd, free culinary surprise.
The illustrations are bright and breezy, perfectly reflecting the gusty, open-aired fun of a day at the seaside. I recommend Chip as a fun, holiday read-aloud and the perfect preface to a family day out.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Chip and his friends will do anything for the salty goodness of an abandoned chip. When signs appear warning tourists not to feed the seagulls, Chip must do some creative problem-solving or face losing his favourite food forever!
From the greasy-looking endpapers to the incredible, fold-out page spread in the middle, Chip is a book that will have you cheering for our gullish hero, before rushing out to feast on some fish and chips. The story follows Chip, a chip-loving seagull, whose chip supply is suddenly cut off when his (and his fellow gulls’) behaviour leads to the posting of signs warning visitors not to feed the gulls.
When multiple stealthy attempts to obtain those little sacks of salty potato delight are thwarted, Chip and his friends must think outside the box if they ever want to taste the goodness of free food again. Now before you leap onto your soapbox, proclaiming the wrongs of feeding human food to wild creatures, the surprise ending of the book gently conveys this message while ensuring that Chip and his friends can still enjoy the odd, free culinary surprise.
The illustrations are bright and breezy, perfectly reflecting the gusty, open-aired fun of a day at the seaside. I recommend Chip as a fun, holiday read-aloud and the perfect preface to a family day out.
May 22, 2024
This story is about a seagull called Chip who loves to eat chips of any kind. Then one day because of his increasingly rude and aggressive chip searching behaviour there are no more chips. In order to get past his hunger and eating again Chip rounds up some other seagulls to put on an airshow.
I get that the natural consequence for stealing chips means Chip has no more chips but the whole putting on an aerobatic display and suddenly all the seagulls get fed again (this time fresh fish) left me wondering what was the point of the story. If the seagulls had had to go and learn to get their fish from the sea again – that I would get and respect – but replacing one vice with another…well, it just didn’t do it for me.
I get that the natural consequence for stealing chips means Chip has no more chips but the whole putting on an aerobatic display and suddenly all the seagulls get fed again (this time fresh fish) left me wondering what was the point of the story. If the seagulls had had to go and learn to get their fish from the sea again – that I would get and respect – but replacing one vice with another…well, it just didn’t do it for me.
April 30, 2016
A gorgeous and fun read. Wrote this review for Babyology: http://babyology.com.au/sunday-arts/c...
February 28, 2016
Funny and very affecting. It almost makes me love seagulls, almost.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews