This is a delightful story about a hand reared chicken. His name is Marvin and he is marvellous. He wins the hearts of the family, sitting on shoulders, sleeping on a hot water bottle, pulling up worms and doing regular chicken things.
Marvellous Marvin is inspired by a true story about a chicken, hatched by Nadia Lim in a freezing cold winter. There are photographs of the family and the little chick in the front and back of the book, and a word about the real Marvin.
The illustrator, Fifi Colston has captured the adorable chick's antics in fabulous Fifi style! I imagine her making 3D models to paint from, or photographing Marvin in different poses, to get the pics just right.
Marvin reminds me of a chicken called Perky that I raised. Here's my story. When I was a kid, around ten, a friend of the family arrived with a little chicken that he had found in a puddle of oil on his farm. He couldn't find the mother hen, and asked if we wanted to raise it. I named her Perky, and she slept on my pillow the first night. I kept her warm, fed her with a dropper, comforted her and raised her. She lived inside the house for a while! When she became a mother, she was different to the other hens in our garden. Instead of roosting on the ground, she insisted her teenage chicks follow her up into a tree to roost at night - which involved much squawking and faffing! So, having had a similar bond with a chicken, I could totally relate to Marvellous Marvin.
PS - There is an "Eg-cellent Fluffy Saturday Pancakes Recipe" in the book!
By Kate
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This is a put-up zone :)