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April 21, 2009 by Travis Jonker

Book Review: Chicken Butt!

April 21, 2009 by Travis Jonker   6 comments

chickenbuttcov

Chicken Butt!
By Erica S. Perl
Illustrated by Henry Cole
Abrams Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780810983250
$12.92
Grades K-2
In Stores

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*Recommended*

So here’s the question: How do you feel about a raucous storytime? Are you pro or con? Cause that’s what you’re going to have if you pull this one out during read-aloud. There are children’s books that work well when shared, then you have books like Chicken Butt, that are created for group settings. Say goodbye to the “fouth wall” – readers are invited into the story from page one. While the central joke isn’t new, this winning combination of humor and the element of surprise will make for a memorable read aloud.

When the title of a book is chicken butt, you can imagine where things are going. After a lost chicken follows a brown-haired boy home, he decides to spring that age old question, “You know what?”, upon his unsuspecting father, who responds with a simple, “What?” The answer (“Chicken butt!”) comes when the page is turned, with the chicken providing a visual aid. A series of similar question-and-answer exchanges ensue, with a range of fowl anatomy (thigh, eyebrow, etc.) brought into the mix. The father eventually grows weary of this game and wants to put an end to it. But the boy, using all his powers of persuasion, gets his dad to answer one last question – the answer to which will be a sure-fire crowd pleaser.

If you’ve read Leslie Helakoski’s Big Chickens than you’re familiar with Henry Cole. Loose and expressive, Cole’s illustrations set the right mood for this sort of story.

Really, this is less of a review than it is a question. Are you ready for the sort of  rip-roaring storytime that this book promises? While adults (like the one in the book) may not be thrilled with the premise of Chicken Butt, kids will be unquestionably sold.

Find this book at your local library with WorldCat.

Filed under: *Best New Books*, Reviews

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. teacherninja says

    April 21, 2009 at 8:16 am

    I’m ready for the chicken butts!

  2. tanita says

    April 21, 2009 at 11:47 am

    Oh, my word. My DAD used to say this to me when I was a kid.
    “You know what?”
    “What?”
    “Chicken butt, five cents a cup!”

    *grooooan*
    I think the kids WILL LOVE IT. And the geriatric set who are DEEPLY immature (aka: My Dad).

  3. Jane Glen says

    April 21, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    Just read Janet Stevens’s Jackalope aloud to a grade 1 class today. Although maybe not quite as raucous, it certainly got them going at times. Lots of word-play they didn’t get, of course but they had fun!

  4. Heather says

    September 10, 2010 at 12:52 pm

    Now I know where they get it from… I’ve been hearing “Chicken butt, 10 cents a cup!” for years!!

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