I received this book as a gift prior to getting chickens, and read almost all of it before we bought our first chicks. It really helped me decide which breeds to get, and prepared me for a lot of the nerve-wracking parts of growing up. I have loaned it out to other people who were thinking of raising chickens--it really helps put all the necessary tools and time into perspective. It gets an A+ from me, and I can't imagine having raised chicks without them.