School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Everyone looks forward to the storytime program at the public library. One week, a chicken comes in through the window and joins the entourage of children as they gather around the librarian to hear a story, and a good time is had by all. The next week, a larger crowd of children attend, along with a whole flock of chickens. The session is a bit hectic but is nonetheless a big hit. The following week, there are so many children, and so many chickens, that the beleaguered librarian can't be heard over the din, even with a bullhorn. How can they possibly conduct a storytime? Suddenly, a solution occurs to her-she hands out "shelves and shelves of stories" to the children, and they spread out all over the building, each conducting mini-storytimes, reading to the chickens. The vibrant cartoon art captures the suburban library setting with a mix of full-bleed spreads, sequential panels, and increasingly busy (and noisy) scenes. The simple, large-font, cumulative text reinforces several recurring elements (children, chickens, stories) and features the refrain, "Everyone loves storytime." With this engaging, bibliocentric answer to the proverbial question of why the chicken crossed the road, librarians and teachers can introduce the idea of library programming in a lively and humorous way. VERDICT Children will flock to hear this raucous read-aloud.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Children will know that they are in for some poultry-themed hijinks from the first page of this off-kilter story, as a chicken spots a poster for "story time at the library." As kids stream into the library, the chicken gives readers a knowing glance-she's ready to make her move. She's friendly ("The children like the chicken. The chicken likes the children"), well-behaved, and attentive, so the librarian is chill about it (after all, "everyone loves story time"). But as chickens and kids show up in ever-larger numbers (one chicken even slips in through the book return slot), crowd control becomes difficult and proper library behavior goes out the window. What's a librarian to do? Asher's (Here Comes Gosling!) poker-faced, repeating text ("One library. One story. Many children. Many chickens") offers the perfect setup for Fearing's wonderfully silly and well-choreographed cartooning, which proves that children and chickens are equally skilled at creating chaos. And the resolution points to another advantage of becoming a reader: you can lead a cross-species story time yourself. Ages 3-5. Illustrator's agent: Sean McCarthy, Sean McCarthy Literary. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.