Chicken Feathers

Starred review from April 1, 2008
Gr 3-5-Much of the tension in this charming, witty chapter book centers around the question of whether Josh's pet hen, Semolina, really does talk. After all, she talks to Josh and to Josh alone. This wouldn't be such a problem if Semolina didn't have such important information to impart concerning a fox who has formed a gang to extort protection money (in the form of eggs) from the hens in the number three sheddozens of eggs a day. This is a loss the Miller family can ill afford, what with Elizabeth confined to the hospital for three months awaiting the birth of a new baby. As Tucker tells his son, "Your mom and I are not good layers, and that's the truth of it." Then there's the added complication that cranky, opinionated Semolina has developed a taste for Grandma's home brew and refuses to divulge what she knows unless she's paid off in "brown water." Tucker is as unable to believe in a tippling hen as a loquacious one and disconcertingly seems to suspect Josh of sampling the liquor. Grandma just plain dislikes the hen. It all comes to a head when Semolina is attacked and carried off by the fox. Family and friends rally round and Josh is able to appreciate how loved and supported he has been all along. Elliott's personality-laden pencil illustrations extend readers' sense of Cowley's characters. The image of Tucker, scratching his head as he tries to negotiate the tricky emotional ground between sympathy for Josh and respect for prickly Grandma, speaks volumes. Original, well-crafted, and touching, Cowley's story begs to be read aloudover and over again."Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2008
In a place adjacent to Rootabaga Country and Centerburg, where people eat ham-and-corn fritters and say "yep" a lot, there lives a ten-year-old boy and his talking chicken. Such is the premise of this gentle, folksy short novel of life on the farm. Josh is having a full summer. He is building a boat. His mother is in the hospital in the later stages of a difficult pregnancy. His grandmother has come to stay. And there's a fox threatening the chickens, specifically Josh's beloved Semolina, who talks only to him. Josh's earnest father, beautiful Annalee Binochette who lives next door, the grumpy grandmother, and reliable, competent Josh himself are nicely defined characters, but Semolina steals the show. She is demanding, strident, and stubborn. She has her own philosophy and theology. She also has an overwhelming fondness for Grandmother's home brew. The two plot strands of the baby-to-be and Semolina's fox drama weave together naturally, and a scene in which hundreds of chickens announce the birth of Josh's sister with a cacophonous chorus, "a song of rejoicing at the laying of a new warm egg," is a delicious moment of magic realism.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2008
Ten-year-old Josh's pregnant mother is in the hospital. At the same time, there's a fox threatening their farm's chickens--specifically stubborn, demanding Semolina, who talks only to Josh. The plot strands of baby-to-be and fox drama weave together naturally; a scene in which hundreds of chickens announce the birth of Josh's sister with a cacophonous chorus is a delicious moment of magic realism.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)