Chicken Little: A Tale about Common Sense

Abstract

I include this book in the collection not because I think Chicken Little should be viewed as a fable but because this volume is part of a series that is labeled Famous Fables. This twenty-page children's picture book extends onto its back endpaper with tips for parents, including strategies, discussion questions, and activities that grow out of the story. Chicken Little actually works off of a fable motif, in which an acorn falling on Chicken Little's head sets off fears that the sky is falling. Several elements in this good story are not typical of fables. One is the pleasant names given to the animals, like Ducky Lucky and Goosey Loosey. Another is the shift in the story when Foxy Loxy leads all the terrified animals to his den. A third untypical element is the coincidence that a branch happens to fall on Foxy Loxy's head as he is about to devour Goosey Loosey, and now Foxy Loxy too thinks that the sky is falling. In the end, the kind king reassures the animals that the sky is not falling.