Chickens

Since before I even had children I longed to have a chicken girl daughter. This desire was kindled by a 3-yr old chicken chaser I once met and further fueled by Barbara Kingsolver's account of her own daughter in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I tried not to push this agenda beyond finding opportunities for my kids to spend time with chickens. I am thrilled that my older daughter actually is obsessed with chickens. Below are three favorite chicken books in case you want to inspire some chicken mania at your house.

First you have to get in a good chicken chasing mood. The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County tells the story a young girl determined to get her hands on the prize chicken of her grandmother's flock. She tries multiple tactics including standing statue still and thinking like a chicken - corn, corn, crunchy corn...worms, worms, fat juicy worms. The surprise ending will get you ready to tune into your motherly side with the next book.

What?! You don't know what it means to "get broody"? Don't worry. Gemma and the Baby Chick will teach you all about it as you follow the story of a girl whose hen decides to hatch some eggs. Mama hen sings to her eggs telling them to hurry up so they'll all hatch together but one of the chicks is late. You'll learn what to do as Gemma helps save the chick.

Oh no! The chickens are in a funk after their friend Rody the Chicken Man gets moved to a new job on the kibbutz. Rody makes every job on the kibbutz seem fun but he misses his girls and the hens won't resume laying until Rody comes back.

Picture Book Autobiographies

It's been a long while since we've posted with any regularity! But here's the first post of what I hope will be weekly installments for a while.

Over the years we've come across a few picture books which stand out for being autobiographical. It's really fun to get a window on the lives of some of our favorite authors.

The Junkyard Wonders tells the story of the year the author spent as a young girl in a special education class. Her unorthodox teacher fed the confidence and imagination of an entire class of students who went on to become a fashion designer, an astronaut and one of our favorite author/illustrators.

The Year I Didn't Go to School was a fun window into the childhood of another of our favorite illustrators. Giselle Potter's quirky style can't be mistaken for anyone else's. In this book we learn that she grew up in a family of puppeteers and spent a year touring Italy as a part of their puppet show.

Anyone else have any favorites?