Daisy: A Hen into the Wild

Gr 1–3—From the huge-eyed hen and cute duckling on the DVD cover, one may expect a syrupy sweet story. On the contrary; Daisy is full of tragedy and action and is not for the tenderhearted. Daisy starves herself so she can escape the factory egg farm where she lives, knowing that the farmer takes out the hens that are sick. When she collapses, she's thrown into a wheel barrow with a pile of dead hens then dumped into a mass grave. When she awakens, she's threatened by a weasel and saved by a bold drake, Wilson. When the weasel carries off Wilson's wife, viewers learn that Wilson once held an esteemed position in his flock until his wing was broken by the weasel. Fight scenes between the drake and the weasel are savage, and the weasel eventually prevails, leaving Daisy to care for a newly hatched, orphaned duckling. Daisy escorts the duckling to the glades, where her happiness is marred when the creatures that live there reject her because she is a barnyard animal. In the end, knowing she won't live through the winter, she sacrifices herself so that the weasel can feed her babies. Meanwhile, her adopted duckling grows up and becomes an accepted member of the flock. Realistic, gorgeously drawn settings are backdrop for the cartoonish characters. The violence and cruel nature of the story may upset some viewers.—Constance Dickerson, Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, OH