Silly Chicken
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A picture book by Rukhsana Khan
Illustrated by Yunmee Kyong
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Published in US & Canada by Viking
32 pg, Hardcover
$15.99 USD / $23.50 CDN
ISBN 0-670-05912-9
Silly Chicken is also to be published in Indonesia by
Kidclassic, an imprint of Awareness Publication
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AR Quiz No. 86845 EN Fiction
IL: LG - BL: 2.3 - AR Pts:
0.5
AR Quiz Types: RP
Rating:
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Set in Pakistan, a little girl named Rani is convinced that her mother
loves the pet chicken better than her.
- Yunmee Kyong, the illustrator, has won the Ezra Jack Keats
Award for best new illustrator for this book! Congratulations
Yunmee! Well done!
- A Resource Links Best book
...This story has a lot
going on beneath the surface, just like its sensitive narrator, we get a
hint about family circumstances when Rani briefly mentions visiting her
father’s grave. Khan (Ruler of the Courtyard) always stays true to young
Rani’s self-centered impressions and emotions, never injecting adult
interpretations....this is an effective, even intriguing, variation
on a common theme.
-Horn Book Magazine, February 2005-
PreS-Gr. 2. . . . Set in Pakistan, where Khan
lived as a young child before moving to Canada, this picture book
clearly depicts a child's jealousy and cleverly gives Rani an
opportunity to change in the end while avoiding the usual schmaltz.
Kyong, a Korean American, paints in a naive style, using fresh, warm
colors. A pleasing book with an unusual setting. -Booklist-
In this classic tale of jealousy (or sibling
rivalry), Rani, a young Pakistani girl, resents the attention her mother
lavishes on a silly chicken who doesn't even know how to lay an egg. . .
. Joyful, childlike illustrations in bold colors perfectly capture the
silly chicken, the mother and child and the rural setting. The emotions
ring true, the language is conversational and spare and the pacing just
right-a perfect read-aloud.
-Kirkus, February 2005-
. . . Khan (author of
Ruler of the Courtyard, BCCB 5/03) has perfectly captured the homey
domesticity of the rural Pakistani setting in this fresh take on family
rivalry. Kyong's bold, thick paintings fill most spreads to the edges
with broad planes of marigold, aqua, and green, and the vivid palette
endows the courtyard setting with a homespun energy. The quiet humor of
the young narrator's jealous narration (versus the obvious humor of her
cross-armed cover image) gives the tale enormous storytime appeal.
-Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books-
Set in Pakistan, the village life of which is
wonderfully evoked in simple, not-quite-representative paintings, this
picture book casts its tender gaze on the subject of jealousy.
-The Globe and Mail, February 2005-