Silly Chicken

By Rukhsana Khan

Illustrated by Yunmee Kyong

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picture book

Published in U.S. & Canada by Viking

32 pg, Hardcover

$15.99 U.S.,$23.50 CDN

ISBN 0-670-05912-9

A.R. Quiz # 86845

A.R. Reading Level 2.3

A.R. points 0.5

Yunmee Kyong, the illustrator, has just won the Ezra Jack Keats Award for best new illustrator for this book! Congratulations Yunmee! Well done!

. . . 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.

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.

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.

. . . 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.

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.