I Think I Need A Chicken and why Kelly Jones is to Blame.

I'm sure you've experienced this.  I mean surely - we're librarians, teachers, lovers of the printed word.  Heck - go on Pinterest and you'll find half a dozen cartoons that speak to this very problem:

It's one of those things where when you finish a book you discover that what your life is missing is exactly laid out, word for word, in the pages of a book.  In my case when I closed this book my first words were,

"I think I need a chicken and it's all Kelly Jones's fault."

Kelly Jone's is the author of the enormously enjoyable book Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer

Danger! This book can create extreme chicken fascination

 Written in a voice that reminds me of Roald Dahl and including a wonderfully strong lead  character named Sophie, this book is just the things that we want our kids to read:

Diverse characters?
Engaging story?
Laugh out loud elements?
Events readers can relate to?
Unusual Chickens?


Yep.

I must warn you though.  You just might find yourself fascinated with chickens when you put this book down.  I certainly did.  So much so that I convinced my closest friend, who is also a children's librarian, to read the book.  She gave me the same look that you're probably making right now.  The "Okay, let's just smile and nod, and slowly back out of the room" look.   Did she read the book?  Yes.  Is she now fascinated with chickens?  Well, she created a giant red barn made out of cardboard for her students to sit and read in and posted chickens around her library, you be the judge.

My new found respect for poultry of the printed kind led me to explore what other great chicken books were out there that I may have been missing.   I was genuinely surprised!  Some of the titles were familiar, but others were wonderful discoveries.

A Chicken Followed Me Home! by Robin Page

Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road by collected authors/illustrators

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein

So what's an elementary librarian supposed to do with so many fabulous chicken choices? Collaborate with an equally poultry-obsessed fellow colleague to create a 5 week unit about libraries, books and being a great patron through literature that explores chickens of course!  School is now well under way and my students have completed 6 weeks of instruction in the library.  During this time we've explored a strong set of Essential Understandings:

• Libraries are more than just books
• Libraries are organized in purposeful ways
• The library is everybody's resource and everybody needs to take care of it
• My library is only as GREAT as I am (GREAT is an acronym for positive traits in the library)
• Libraries come in all shapes and sizes

Our library instruction has included an investigation of  real eggs (from jellybean sized hummingbird eggs all the way to fossilized dinosaur eggs), a library scavenger hunt using plastic eggs and clues about sections of the library, as well as investigating story telling using shadow puppets.   All while still being connected to chickens!

Kindergartners explore fossilized Hadrosaur and Oviraptor eggs

Students opened plastic eggs to discover clues about the library

 If you had asked me three months ago if I'd be contemplating the practicality of owning my own chickens or focusing my teaching around these birds I would have given you "the look" too.  But, this is what can happen when you read a good book, and isn't this the type of passion we want to instill in our young readers? Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer is one of those books.  I love the way this year has "hatched".   Give this book a read - you won't be disappointed.  Don't say I didn't warn you though when you find you need a chicken too.