Shutting the Chooks In

Libby Gleeson (author)

Ann James (illustrations)

Scholastic Press, Australia: 2003

ISBN: 186388985X

Genres: picture book

Issues: anxiety

CBCA Honour Book: Book of the Year, Early Childhood, 2004
CBCA Honour Book: Picture Book of the Year, 2004.

A little boy's one job is to cross the various areas of the farmyard to feed the chooks and shut them up safely for the night. He goes about this task cheerfully, skipping and jumping across the yard, feeds the chooks and names each of them as they scramble into the pen. One is missing and the boy knows he must find it before the foxes do.

At first sighting the dark, shadowed wax crayon illustrations seem rather simplistic and rough and perhaps inappropriate to the apparently simple text. But as the shadows become deeper, the wax crayon illustrations really show their worth - all colour is lost, the page turns grey as white spaces disappear, echoing the increasing tension of the boy as his imagination transforms the everyday world into a nightmare.

One of the strengths of the text is the way in which Gleeson captures the seriousness of the child's attention to his task, especially once he is searching for the missing chook: "Night is coming. Fox is out there. Sharp eyed, slavering mouth, quick to leap. Where is she? WHERE?" There is also a subtle, yet noticeable change in the rhythm and pacing of the text. As the child meanders across to the chook pen, the sentences are long and relaxed; once he's realised a chook is missing, the sentences are short, urgent, incomplete - expressions of his rapid, urgent, anxious thinking.

Altogether a very clever and subtle work but perhaps one that adults will appreciated more than younger readers.