Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
by John Agee, Tedd Arnold, Jerry Pinkney, David Shannon, Mo Willems, and many others
We all know the age old question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?,” and many of us know that it was “To get to the other side.” However, there are many illustrators that have a different opinion of why the chicken crossed the road. Tedd Arnold believes that the chicken crossed the road to show an opossum that it could be done. David Shannon believes it was because the traffic light turned red, and the chicken could race away in his convertible. Jerry Pinkney believes that it was to get to a picnic with all of her friends. Harry Bliss believes it was to get away from the mutated zombie chickens from Mars. Each illustrator has a different theory that they have illustrated on each page, and some are really funny. How many other reasons can they come up with?
The Chicken Dance
by Jacques Couvillon
Don never really gets much attention from anyone, not even his parents. His mother is always talking about his older sister Dawn who died when he was just a baby, and he feels that he can never live up to this sister that he never met. He lives on Horse Island where people raise a lot of chickens, and people know a lot about the chickens that they raise. His family also raises chickens, because they have to have at least twenty-five chickens to keep the house that Don’s father’s uncle left him. His mother understands very little about chickens, and she hates taking care of the chickens and living on Horse Island. Don knows both of his parents are unhappy, but there is very little that can be done about it. He also knows that they are keeping something from him, but he can never figure out what it is. Don really likes the chickens and wants to take care of them, but his mother does not want him to go anywhere near the chickens. After his parents forget his eleventh birthday, his mother decides to let him take care of the chickens. Don learns everything he can about chickens, so that he can take good care of them. Then he decides to take part in the chicken-judging contest at the Dairy Festival. Don knows so much about chickens that he wins the contest. Then he gets lots of attention from the people in town and the kids at school. Leon Leonard, the popular kid who likes to make fun of him, even decides to be friends with him. Then one day he finds his birth certificate and discovers that his real name is Stanley, and he really knows that his parents are hiding something from him. What is the big secret that he is missing? Will he stay popular with his new friends and all of the people in town?
Chicks & Chickens
by Gail Gibbons
This nonfiction book is full of all kinds of facts about chickens. The book talks about the different ways chickens sing, what the differences are between chicks, hens, and roosters, some common breeds of chickens, how chickens lay eggs, how chicks grow in their eggs, and what the different names of the stages of a chicken are. At the end of the book are some more interesting facts about chickens, such as they can live to be about twelve years old, the egg can support up to nine pounds before it breaks, the most eggs laid by a chicken in one year is 371, and that each year in the United States, the chickens lay about 80 billion eggs.
Cock-a-doodle-hooooooo!
by Mick Manning and illustrated by Brita Granstrom
An owl is stuck in a storm one night and he looks for a place to get away from the storm, and at a farmyard, he found some place cozy and warm, where he fell fast asleep. The next morning, the hens were very surprised to see him in their henhouse. They decided to see if he would make a good rooster for them, because they needed a rooster around. Unfortunately, the owl is not good a pecking, scratching, and especially not cock-a-doodling. The speckled hen decides to teach the owl to be a good rooster. Owl learned how to act like a rooster, but as much as he tried, he could not cock-a-doodle. He gets mad when the hens start making fun of him and tells them that he is an owl and what owls do. Will the owl be able to prove himself to the chickens so that he can stay in the warm, cozy henhouse? Will he be able to do something that shows them an owl can be just as useful as a rooster?
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