A Chicken Called Hope by Danny Parker

Hope sails the world in her ship Courage. She has no fears. If she feels sick, she hums a tune, if she needs a rest she flies up into the rigging to have a sleep, but one day she hears the drip drip drip of water. "No worries" she says, the afternoon sun will dry that up. But the drip becomes more than a drip. The trickle becomes a whoosh and before she knows it, the deck is awash and water falls down the ladders to the levels below.

Hope scurries up the rigging, going further up as the waves wash over the ship, and everything starts to fall apart. Hope looks round as she clutches the beam, looking at the clutch of the ship’s wreckage she can see in the distance. If only she had fixed that leak! She sees a tree on the horizon and heads towards it, assured that where there is a tree, there must be an island. She eventually lands on the island and a lot of the wreckage joins her.

Despite getting splinters and having a hard time untying the knots in the rigging, she rebuilds the Courage and on its first trip she realises that she needs some more, so goes back to the island to get some spare parts, and satisfied goes off on her trips around the world.

A wonderful tale of resilience, of trying again, of seeing the best in difficult circumstances, Hope is a wonderful character. She sails the world without a care, but learns that there are some things that need doing for her to keep going on her trip. She can overcome some by humming a tune or climbing the rigging but learns that others require more effort. Her resilience shines through as she does not allow misfortune to keep her from what she loves to do.

I loved the use of words to describe the water, the drip, drip, dripping for example, and the lists of things lost from the ship. Stress on the words makes the text visually interesting for young readers as they see how words can be used for effect.

The pencil, gouache and watercolour illustrations fill the pages with movement and colour as the sea washes over Hope and Courage bobbing in the angry waves. Hope is hilarious as she almost lifts her feathery skirt to avoid the water, exposing those wonderfully spindly legs, fluttering up into the highest rigging to avoid the rising waves. Readers like me will love picking up the small bits of the ship they can find in the ocean, wondering how Hope can possibly use all these bits to make herself a usable boat. There are many other animals dotted amongst the waves for delighted readers to point out.

A great tale full of humour for younger readers.

Themes: Adventure, Sailing, Sea, Shipwreck.

Fran Knight