BooksForKidsBlog

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

A Bird in the Hand: The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington

I love chasing chickens. I do! I do!

Big Mama says, "Baby, behave yourself. Leave those chickens alone!" But I can't help it. I try hard to be good--but I'm the Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County.

Our feisty girl has a thing for catching chickens--even when nobody wants them caught. Big Mama wants calm hens who lay lots of eggs, but her granddaughter's avocation is getting those hens in her hot little hands. But real success has eluded her--in the person of Miss Hen, who is both beautiful and brilliant.

"I don't want just any chicken. I want my favorite. Her feathers are shiny as a rained-on roof. She has high yellow stockings and long-feathered feet. . . . She's as plump as a Sunday purse--just waiting for me to pick her up.

I never do, though. I never get even close. Miss Hen is fast as a mosquito buzzing and quick as a fleabite."

She tries cornbread crumbs, corn, fine swishy-mishy, ickly-tickly worms, and stands still so long her shadow gets bored, but when she makes her move, Miss Hen always scoots away, out of sight, in a eye blink.

At last a stealthy search for Miss Hen's hiding place leads to a discovery. Miss Hen is hidden on her own secluded nest, sitting on her warm brown eggs, and our girl knows she could grab her this time for sure.

"Miss Hen looks at me steadily and hard, her eyes knife-bright, her beak raised like a sharp question. She hunkers down, but she doesn't move."

But then the girl sees the three new little chicks snuggling beneath the hen's protective wings, and the chicken-chasing queen of Lamar County has a change of heart.

"Don't you worry, Miss Hen," I say. "I know you're a mama now. You're doing what you need to do. I won't trouble your babies."

Janice Harrington's The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County is a jolly tale of a dedicated chicken stalker who becomes a dedicated chicken protector, catching grasshoppers and digging worms, watching out for "sneaking weasels and egg-sucking snakes," and looking forward to teaching Miss Hen's chicks to "run so fast that no one will ever catch them!" Wonderful language that fairly sings through this tale is backed up by Shelley Jackson's fabric and paper collages with touches of acrylic which portray our spirited girl and her equally frisky feathered foe to a T!

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County is a 2009-2010 nominee for the Tennessee Volunteer State Children's Choice Book Award in the K-3 division.

Labels: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment



<< Home