The Chicken Who Loved Books

From the domestication of the bird nearly ten thousand years ago to its current status as our go-to meat, the history of this seemingly commonplace bird is anything but ordinary. How did chicken achieve the culinary ubiquity it enjoys today? It’s hard to imagine, but there was a point in history, not terribly long ago, that individual people each consumed less than ten pounds of chicken per year. Today, those numbers are strikingly different: we consumer nearly twenty-five times as much chicken as our great-grandparents did. Collectively, Americans devour 73.1 million pounds of chicken in a day, close to 8.6 billion birds per year. How did chicken rise from near-invisibility to being in seemingly "every pot," as per Herbert Hoover's famous promise? Emelyn Rude explores this fascinating phenomenon in Tastes Like Chicken. With meticulous research, Rude details the ascendancy of chicken from its humble origins to its centrality on grocery store shelves and in restaurants and kitchens. Along the way, she reveals startling key points in its history, such as the moment it was first stuffed and roasted by the Romans, how the ancients’ obsession with cockfighting helped the animal reach Western Europe, and how slavery contributed to the ubiquity of fried chicken today. In the spirit of Mark Kurlansky’s Cod and Bee Wilson's Consider the Fork, Tastes Like Chicken is a fascinating, clever, and surprising discourse on one of America’s favorite foods.

Little Red loves the stories that Henry reads every afternoon in the coop. But when Henry stops bringing books and starts bringing video games, Little Red must find a way to tell him she would rather have books!

A giant chicken hatches from an enormous egg, but the other chickens cannot accept that he is one of them.

Humor, a surprise ending, and an unlikely friendship make Bear and Chicken fall into the ranks with Mo Willems and Dev Petty, and the soup recipe at the end will inspire young chefs to get into the kitchen and cook! When Bear finds a chicken frozen in the winter snow, he brings it home to try to defrost it. As Chicken thaws-um, awakens-he fears that Bear is actually prepping to eat him. Oh no! All signs are pointing to a fateful end for Chicken-being wrapped like a burrito, chopped basil and veggies sitting on the counter, the huge pot on the stove that's just the right size for a chicken to fit inside. It's almost time for lunch, so Chicken makes a run for it! But in the end, Chicken learns that perhaps he too quickly jumped to conclusions. This funny and clever friendship tale teaches kids that things are not always as they seem, while learning a thing or two about making soup with a friend!

Sonya raises her three chickens from the time they are tiny chicks. She feeds them, shelters them and loves them. Everywhere Sonya goes, her chicks are peeping at her heels. Under her care, the chicks grow into hens and even give Sonya a wonderful gift: an egg! One night, Sonya hears noises coming from the chicken coop and discovers that one of her hens has disappeared. Where did the hen go? What happened to her? When Sonya discovers the answers, she learns some important truths about the interconnectedness of nature and the true joys and sorrows of caring for another creature.

A fox steals a chicken. Why would the fox do this and not eat the bird?

Flaunting their high-fashion plumage, chickens strut and pose like runway models for photographer Ernest Goh. These birds, with their all-too-human expressions, are both funny and poignant, as if they are commenting on our own foibles. From the proud Serama of Malaysia to the delightfully humorous Silkie, Goh’s portraits, shot on location throughout the world, convey not only the beauty and diversity of various breeds, but also capture the personality of each fowl. For sheer variety in size, color, feathering, and behavior, nothing beats the humble chicken, and no other bookcaptures this surprising phenomenon as well as the hilarious Chickens.

It’s time for the little red chicken’s bedtime story—and a reminder from Papa to try not to interrupt. But the chicken can’t help herself! Whether the tale is Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood or even Chicken Little, she jumps into the story to save its hapless characters from doing some dangerous or silly thing. Now it’s the little red chicken’s turn to tell a story, but will her yawning papa make it to the end without his own kind of interrupting? Energetically illustrated with glowing colors—and offering humorous story-within-a-story views—this all-too-familiar tale is sure to amuse (and hold the attention of ) spirited little chicks.

When an acorn falls on her head, the chicken, Henny Penny, is convinced the sky is falling.

Dirt, Sweetie, Poppy and Sugar, the chicks of the Chicken Squad, must figure out what Tail the squirrel is so afraid of.