Max Counts His Chickens (review)

Wells' beloved bunny sibs, Max and Ruby, are back to engage in a familiar Easter-time activity, the candy hunt. The Easter Bunny has made his rounds hiding marshmallow chicks throughout the house, and, as might be expected, Ruby is an ace at ferreting them out. While she shows off the one found under her pillow, and the next in her dollhouse ("That makes two!"), and so on as the numbers accrue, Max is leaving a comical trail of domestic destruction in his wake as he tries to score a chick of his own. "There were no chicks in the toothpaste tube," as one can plainly see from the squeeze snaking from its opening, and "no chick was hiding in the orange juice," as the torrent of splashing juice attests. By the time Ruby reaches ten and Max is still at zero, Grandma is less concerned with the mess than Max's chickless state, and she summons the Easter Bunny to make an emergency visit and feed an equitable number of chicks through the mail slot and into Max's waiting basket. Spring-color borders frame the action, and a bold numeral and line of countable chicks top each spread, making this a truly useful beginners' counting book. The real pleasure, though, lies watching Max do his signature Max thing, trailing behind Ruby but somehow managing to come up even in the end. This will be a treat well after the Peeps™ have gone stale.