The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
	The Bulletin Dozen is a monthly theme-based booklist available as an online-only Bulletin feature. Since we're awfully fond of bakers here at the Bulletin, we thought we'd adopt their philosophy of generosity and throw in an extra one or two when we have them to offer--so don't expect an even dozen. Please feel free to copy, download, or link to these lists. We ask only that you cite the source. See the archive for lists from previous months.
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Fowl Play: A Chicken Dozen --selected by Loretta Gaffney No matter what chickens are doing, they always seem to be funny; perhaps this is why some comedians carry a rubber one in reserve. This picture-book list of chicken misbehavior, mockery, and mayhem features a variety of settings (from farm to beach), of characters (naughty chickens, fashionable chickens), and of themes, from the duping of foxes to the ever-popular announcement of the falling sky. It seems, with apologies to vegetarians, that chicken really does go with everything, though we're limiting the list to stories about live chickens! In any case, here are thirteen chicken picture books—don't worry, they've hatched, so it's okay to count them.

• Andersen, Hans Christian. For Sure! For Sure! ; trans. by Mus White; illus. by Stefan Czernecki. August House, 2004. 4-6 yrs.
  One thoughtless comment about a feather from an otherwise respectable chicken becomes a scandalous rumor, mushrooming into a complete farce by the time it reaches the newspapers. (BCCB 10/04)

• Auch, Mary Jane, ad . Chickerella; illus. by Herm Auch. August House, 2005. 5-8 yrs
  After laying glass eggs and being dressed “eggsquisitely” by her goosy godmother, Chickerella attends the ball and ultimately starts her own fashion line with the prince. (BCCB 5/05)

• Auch, Mary Jane. Souperchicken; written and illus. by Mary Jane and Herm Auch. Holiday House, 2003. 5-8 yrs
  Henrietta's ability to read not only entertains her between egg-laying, but saves lives when she reads a crucial sign and rescues her aunts from becoming chicken soup. (BCCB 6/03)

• Cronin, Doreen . Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type; illus. by Betsy Lewin. Simon & Schuster, 2000. 5-8 yrs
  While the cows get top billing in this story, don't forget that the chickens strike in solidarity, withholding their eggs until Farmer Brown finally provides electric blankets for the animals that dwell in his chilly barn. (BCCB 9/00)

• Dorros, Arthur . City Chicken ; illus. by Henry Cole. HarperCollins, 2003. 4-7 yrs
  After visiting a highly mechanized farm factory complete with cooped up chickens and eggs transported on a conveyor belt, Henry returns to the idyllic city where she can lay blue eggs and eat pizza in peace. (BCCB 2/03)

• Gray, Kes. Cluck O' Clock; illus. by Mary McQuillan. Holiday House, 2004. 4-8 yrs
  This busy brood of farm chickens has a long daily schedule of perching, pecking, and duping foxes, only to start it all over again the next day at “4 o'cluck.” (BCCB 6/04)

• Khan, Rukhsana. Silly Chicken; illus. by Yunmee Kyong. Viking, 2005. 5-7 yrs
  After Bibi's life (and egg-laying career) is cut short by a neighborhood dog, her forgotten egg hatches into a chick that is befriended by a Pakistani girl. (BCCB 3/05)

• McMillan, Bruce. The Problem with Chickens ; illus. by Gunnella. Lorraine/Houghton, 2005. 5-8 yrs
  When chickens recently procured for eggs begin imitating the Icelandic women who care for them, they lose their chicken identity and need a reminder to help them lay eggs again. (BCCB 1/06)

• Murphy, Patti Beling . Elinor and Violet: Two Naughty Chickens at the Beach; written and illus. by Patti Beling Murphy . Little, 2003. 3-6 yrs
  Chicken Elinor's nascent naughtiness is brought to the fore when her friend Violet, a chick with “many good ideas” (such as frosting cupcakes with shaving cream) comes to visit. (BCCB 6/03)

• Shannon, George . Tippy-Toe Chick, Go! ; illus. by Laura Dronzek. Greenwillow, 2003. 3-6 yrs
  When a grumpy dog blocks the way to a tasty garden breakfast of “sweet itty-bitty beans and potato bugs,” mother hen wants to head home to eat--but her three chicks won't take no (or chicken feed) for an answer. (BCCB 3/03)

• Silverman, Erica . When the Chickens Went On Strike: A Rosh Hashanah Tale ; illus. by Matthew Trueman. Dutton, 2003. 5-8 yrs
  When chickens in a Russian village become fed up with the Rosh Hashanah custom of Kapores--being twirled around the villagers' heads to expiate their bad deeds--the flock finally refuses to cooperate. (BCCB 7/03)
  
• Waring, Richard . Hungry Hen.; illus. by Caroline Jayne Church. HarperCollins, 2002. 3-6 yrs
  As a hen with a voracious appetite grows ever bigger, a fox keeps putting off making a meal of her in the hopes that she'll grow bigger still, but he's in for the shock of his life. (BCCB 3/02)
  
• Wattenberg, Jane, ad. Henny-Penny; ad. and illus. by Jane Wattenberg. Scholastic, 2000. 3-7 yrs
  An imaginative retelling of how a silly hen dupes everyone (including herself) into thinking the sky is falling breathes fresh life into a familiar tale using digitally enhanced photographs of fowl and fox and catchy exclamations like “CHICKABUNGA!” (BCCB 5/00)

Need more chickens? Never enough chickens? Then check out Janet Morgan Stoeke's Minerva Louise series, featuring the adventures of a plucky hen, and don't miss the rest of Mary Jane and Herm Auch's chicken-themed spoofs such as Bantam of the Opera , Hen Lake, and Poultrygeist .

This page was last updated on March 1, 2006.

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