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Children's Books
Chickens are comical and some of the best childrens' book authors and illustrators have created books that are fun to have. Here are my favorites. Please contact me if you have a suggestion to add to this list! Of course, I have to start this list with my very own book.
Tillie Lays an Egg
by Terry Golson, photos by Ben Fink
2009
Farm
by Elisha Cooper
2010
What I love about this book is that it is set on a real Midwest farm, with tractors, dust and chores. It resembles, in the best of ways, the Provensen's books about Maple Hill Farm in Vermont. Most books about farm animals are anthropomorphized to the point where the animals are unrecognizable as animals, and the farms have little in common with real farms. This book is charming, and yet doesn't idealize the farmer's life. I'd like to see Farm in every kindergarten library!
The Chicken of the Family
by Mary Amato, illustrated by Delphine Durand
2008
When Henrietta's sisters tease her and tell her that she is a chicken, she believes them and goes up the street to join the flock in Farmer Barney's coop. It turns out that hens are much nicer than older sisters! Amato uses just the right amount of words to describe both sibling relationships and the affinity of kids for chickens. The illustrations are charming (though I wish that Durand didn't give chickens smiling, toothy mouths under their beaks!)
Chicken Cheeks
by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
2009
All kids like to talk about animal bottoms, and this book has a gazillion names for them, from "cheeks" to "tush" to "heinie." The cover has an especially nice view of the backside of a chicken. It reminds me of my hen, Petunia. Just for that, the book gets a shout-out mention here. Chicken Butt by Erica S. Perl, is another book that is a fun word romp, the punch line being "chicken butt." It's not really about chickens, but there is one illustration of a newsstand with magazines like, "Chic Chick" and "Rooster Round-up" and "Albumin World," that would make any chicken-lover smile.
Chicky Chicky Chook Chook
by Cathy MacLennan
2007
This is the sort of book that you want to read again and again to the very young who are beginning to enjoy sounds and language. "Splitter, splatter. Wet. Wet. Wetter." There are darling yellow chicks and hens with striped and polka-dotted combs. They're not anatomically correct - but they've got that silly chicken look.
Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke
1988
Minerva Louise reminds me of our hen Snowball -- she's inquisitive, cheerfully innocent and totally silly. Janet Morgan Stoeke has written 11 delightful picture books about this hen. Perfect for children, but also welcome in any household that loves chickens.
These are all of the Minerva Louise books:
A Hat for Minerva Louise Minerva Louise at the Fair Minerva Louise at School Minerva Louise and the Red Truck A Friend for Minerva Louise Rainy Day Minerva Louise The Mixed-Up Hen Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs Hide-and-Seek
Minerva Louise on Halloween
Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve
Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett
2002
Jan Brett is an author/illustrator of beautiful children's books. She also raises Polish and is involved in a Bantam Club. Daisy Comes Home is about a chicken in China who gets lost and eventually finds her way back home.
The Problem With Chickens by Bruce McMillan
illustrated by Gunnella
2005
This is a very funny and silly book about chickens in a village in Iceland. There are charming illustrations of large women in aprons having tea with chickens and exercising with chickens, and, you'll have to read the story to believe it, shimmying on ropes down a cliff to collect chicken eggs. Delightful.
How the Ladies Stopped the Wind
by Bruce McMillan, illustrated by Gunella
2007
This is the second book by McMillan and Gunella about the ladies of Iceland and their chickens. The chickens are crucial to the plot as "It was the chickens' job to make fertilizer for the trees. They did their job very well." Obviously, the author knows chickens!
Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
(Many illustrator-authors)
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2006
Fourteen talented children's book illustrators come up with answers to this age-old question. Very funny.
The Painter Who Loved Chickens by Olivier Dunrea, is a children's book about, well, exactly what the title says. It is absolutely charming. The picture of the Silkie is worth the price of the book.
Also worth finding are:
Big Chickens, Big Chickens Fly the Coop and Big Chickens Go to Town by Leslie Helakoski, illustrated by Henry Cole
Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox
Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
My Life as a Chicken by Ellen Kelley
Chicken Boy, by Frances O'Roark, is a middle school novel about a seventh grader in a dysfunctional home. Chickens play a large part in teaching him about life and helping him cope. It's well-written, touching, difficult yet hopeful.
Adult Books
Extraordinary Chickens Extra Extraordinary Chickens by Stephen Green-Armytage
These two books feature photographs of some very interesting chickens. They are set against dark, neutral backdrops so the utter weirdness and personality of these birds comes through.
Rooster by Phillippe Schlienger, Jean-Baptiste Harang
2005
Like the Extraordinary Chickens book, this one has photographs that do justice to the oddness and big personalities of roosters.
Fun Sites
This chicken group in Philadelphia has put together a Web site with lots of useful information AND a really fun page of silly stuff, including YouTube videos and games.
Historic poultry photos from England
Blogs
There are many blogs out there written about poultry and chicken keeping I don't list them here, as new blogs crop up like dandelions and if I post a link to one, I have to link to all. The blogs mentioned below are a few of my favorites. Also included are a couple of blogs about goats (two from the goats' perspectives. Very funny!) For more blogs, there's a garden center in the UK that keeps a blog roll. Go to Dobbies (they also sell coops and chicken accessories. If I get to England for a visit, I'm going shopping there!)
HenBlog My hen blog fills you in on what's going on with my girls.
Christine Heinrichs has a blog that focuses on rare breeds and issues important to small flock keepers. It's good to check in and read what she has to say.
This British blogger writes about her hens, garden and tortoise - what a fine combination!
Celia Hart, in the UK, sells lovely prints of her hens. She also blogs. Another artist who has chickens is Lauren Scheurer. Her blog is delightful!
Marigold, an opinionated mini-Nubian goat, blogs. Baby Belle, another goat blogger has her own unique perspective. Finally, this blog, (written by a human) chronicles the lives of some gorgeous, charming goats. Every time she posts a photo of one of her goats, it makes me want to run out and get more of my own.
Chicken Web Cams
See my chickens at HenCam.
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