MY LIFE AS A CHICKEN

Chickens roost thickly on library and bookstore shelves these days, but Pauline Poulet stands out—both for plucky courage and for her way with a rhyme. BAWWWK! Seeing the farmer drooling over a volume of chicken recipes, Pauline declares, “Hens, Away! / Out the gate, / I must escape / the dinner plate!” But the world’s a hostile place for a pullet on the lam. Can “Pauline Prevail?” In Slack’s dark-toned, Keith Graves–style illustrations, pop-eyed Pauline flees one glaring predator after another—fetching up at last—after escaping a fox, feline pirates, a typhoon and other dangers—at an idyllic petting zoo: “I think I’ll stay. / Now, wouldn’t you?” Children will agree that she deserves a better fate than “special of the day / at Cock-a-Doodle-Do Café!” (Picture book. 6-8)