CHICKEN IN THE KITCHEN

Yes, “There’s a chicken in the kitchen, / and she’s pokin’ like the dickens / at the oven and the bread box. / Just a peckin’ and a pickin’.” An apron-clad dog tries to figure out what the harried hen wants, offering her assorted tidbits, even his dog bones, but to no avail. As he sweeps up the mess in the kitchen made by her frantic flapping, his broom sparks an idea and he chops up the broom handle—to make the poor old biddy a nest. And now the content chicken is busy laying and hatching eggs. The flighty pencil-and-watercolor illustrations match the frenzy, filling the kitchen with details that humorously depict the mania, but the pacing is cracked, the story line is eggshell thin, and the rhyming text henpecked at times. Peck, pick, and poke, this feather-brained tale needs a stronger perch to roost on. (Picture book. 4-7)