A Piece of Sky: A Fractured Retelling of Chicken Little

Crowns of the Twelve, Book 5

De: Ann Hunter

Narrado por: JoBe Cerny

Duración: 2 h y 58 m

Resumen del Editor

"It's about you.... It matters who you believe you are.... Your potential is infinite." - Shiver, the last gryphon of Tór

The most powerful force in creation has been stolen from the Tree of Life. Nurgal, Lord of Decay, is convinced the golden seed he possesses will help him end man's time on earth. The last thing he expects is for a little red hen to try and stop him.

When the magic acorn strikes Rós in the head and changes how she sees the entire world, she believes the sky is falling. Determined to discover the identity of the seed, she strikes out into the big, wide world to find her answers. Many factions are in play, and lives are at stake when she learns that an even greater evil is at hand.

Life as she knows it is at its end.

Can one little red hen save the world?

In this twist on the classic tale of Chicken Little, no one is too small to make a difference.

©2014 Ann Hunter (P)2015 Ann Hunter

:Fun version of the old tale: "th sky is falling".

Overall a fun story. The characters were creative and quirky. The voice of the audible book was diverse and we'll chosen.

Different, but worth the time

This was totally different from the books I usually choose. And yet it was impressive: it's a mix of a folk tale, with fantasy, with a fairytale. The plot might seem, at first glance, fit for a children's book, but the whole story is somehow matured and made interesting for adults. Even with a hen as a main character. The narrator made is extra-interesting, his tone and pitch was absolutely perfect for me.

I don't really know what else to comment about it, because it's so different. It has an echo of a child's innocence, and yet it's definitely for grownups. Give it a chance, it's definitely worth it.

would certainly recommend it to youngsters

This was a fun little story, Children's fantasy, of the Fairytale variety.

Rós is a simple little red hen who has an adventure - quite literally - fall on her head.  When "A Piece of Sky" falls out of nowhere, Rós knows something has gone amiss, so she picks it up and sets out to put things right. "Sky" a golden acorn from the Father Tree, just wants to grow, but he's not sure when or where to do it.  So, with the company of her chicken friend Grania (sp?), Rós takes Sky and goes to find help.

There's some kind of strange mythos/analogy in this book, I'm not entirely sure what legends or history was being drawn on.  The Father Tree is definitely a god type figure, with some correlations between it and the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil found in the book of Genesis.  There is also some rather Norse mythology tied in, with Nurgal, the Lord of Decay, who is certainly a devil-like figure with some similarities to Loki.

The story is cute, and I did enjoy it, and would certainly recommend it to youngsters. The writing is good, if slightly repetitive in places.  Considering the high profile adventure setting of the story, I just can't take a chicken heroine seriously enough to consider this epic fantasy, but I don't think the budding fantasy read would mind that.

The quality of the recording is good.  Crystal clear.

JoBe Cerny is a good narrator, and he has quite a variety of vocal styles he uses with this book.  I personally find his voice a little annoying at times, but that's mainly his delivery style, he reads this like a children's book, in that slightly condescending tone that adults use to young people. But really, his performance was excellent.

On the whole, I liked everything about this. I'm giving a higher star rating because I consider it to be a very good children's story.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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FRACTURED CHICKEN LITTLE

THE STORY IS SAD AND RATHER DARK I BELIEVE THAT YOU COULD COMPARE THEM WITH EDGAR ALLEN POE, THE NARRATOR IS GOOD. BUT THE STORY IS NOT A HAPPY ONE.

not my cup of tea

I actually did not like this book. It just wasnt my cup of tea. I dont mean to be negative but want to give an honest review. It was like chicken little mixed with lord of Rings. A confusing story of an acorn and chicken saving the world. It may be because Im an adult reading a young reader book. Children may like it, but it didnt catch my attention. I actually found the book dragging and annoying. I had a hard time finishing it. But I did because it was a gift. I hope others can find joy in this book.

sweet retelling of a favorite fable

A bit of a slow start, but overall I enjoyed this retelling of Chicken Little/Henny Penny. Like all fables has a strong, and clear moral message that should appeal to most. The audio narration was excellent and a pleasure to listen to.

a fun twist

This was a very fun twist on Chicken Little. I very much enjoyed the differences and the references to the original story. Very good storytelling.

A Piece of Sky

This is a rather cute book that seems to be aimed at a middle-grade audience. The moralizing got a bit tedious (though it has its place in this genre), and the perspective changes were very disorientating at times. Overall, though, the story was interesting and well told. In addition, the narrator did a good job differentiating the characters with his performance.
I received a free Audible copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

What a lovely refreshing story.

What a lovely refreshing story, so well narrated and well written, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it is suitable for 10 year old's and up, I say over 10's because I think they will really get the story. I am 60 and grew up reading the faraway tree series and the magic wishing chair books, in fact as a kid I spent all my time in library's and even tried reading at the tea table. I especially like the animals perspective told in their cute voices, omg! that dog, so good! Recommended clean wholesome book.

Chicken Little with divine and mythological bits.

Rós, a little red chicken, is suddenly hit on the head with something small and round, something that looks like a golden acorn. She doesn’t quite figure out what it is. However, she understands that it is not anything ordinary because she has suddenly gained the ability to view creatures around her in colour. Rós is determined to find out what this magical thing is and return it to where it belongs, and sets out on an adventure with her white chicken friend.

Though the story is supposed to be a retelling of “Chicken Little”, it has a lot of shades of The Lord of the Rings series. You have little Rós and her friend going on a dangerous quest to return the ring… oh sorry, the golden acorn… before it destroys the world. Then you have a reference to ENTs, who are trees just like the Ents of LotR but are malicious ones. There is also an undertone of biblical content with references to creation and the Tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. And finally, there are shades of mythological fantasy, what with fae and kelpie and griffins popping up unexpectedly.

I loved the way the animal characters are sketched, right down to their nature and their emotions. Be it the dog or the mare or the hens, each of them is developed so well that you can’t ever be confused about what creature it is. There are also plenty of humorous remarks in the content, like when Rós tells her friend, “For once in your life, don’t be a chicken!” A few of the jokes are needlessly stretched but most of them hit the funny bone spot on.

Where the book could have worked better for me was in its writing style. There is a frequent shift of perspective between the acorn and the chicken. While this still works as one is in first person and the other is in third person, the shifts are too abrupt at times. Furthermore, the story becomes too complicated towards the end. Younger readers might not be able to figure out what exactly was happening in the finale.

This is supposed to be book four of the “Crowns of the Twelve” series but I found it working very effectively as a standalone. Each book in the series is the retelling of a fairy tale or folklore, so they aren’t interconnected as far as I can tell.

The audiobook clocks at three hours and is narrated by JoBe Cerny. His voice is perfect for the story. He narrates the book like a benevolent grandpa, with all the right intonations and sound effects. His animal sounds are superb. Kids will surely enjoy his narration.

All in all, a nice story. While it didn’t rock my world, it still kept me interested enough to find out what happened next.

3.75 stars from me.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request and these are my honest thoughts about it.