When Pauline Poulet learns she'll be the next special of the day at Cock-a-Doodle-Doo Café, she flies the coop faster than you can say "Chicken pie, delicious"! Thus begins her journey of peril and catastrophe, courage and chance: She is chased. She is dunked. She is tossed tail over beak. But can Pauline escape the dinner plate?
Kids everywhere will love clucking along with this chicken's battle cry: "Pauline, prevail!"
K-Gr 3
Pauline Poulet reveals all in this tale of adventure. After hearing the farmer plotting to put her in a chicken pie, the plucky hen escapes her dreary life of doing nothing but laying eggs and winds up in a scary wood. She outfoxes the fox chasing her, and her new motto is born: "Pauline, Prevail!" But things get worse when she falls into the river and is picked up by pirate cats; she barely escapes the bloodthirsty ship's cook and, after a slight problem with a hot-air balloon and a kite, she lands safely in a petting zoo, where she takes up residence happily ever after. Slack's digital mixed-media illustrations are wacky and cartoonish, and the text ripples with big, impressive words befitting the exaggerated nature of Pauline's adventures: "I navigate high altitudes,/an aeronaut with fortitude./Above me burns a blaze of stars,/below the view blurs fast and far." Language-arts teachers will have a field day with this one, and the tone and zany sensibilities of the story and pictures are a perfect match for the funny bones of an early elementary audience.
—Kathleen Kelly MacMillanCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
book4children
Posted November 26, 2012
Humor oozes from every page of this delightful picture book! It was funny, witty, and engaging. Wildly entertaining, My Life as a Chicken will have children and adults laughing at the long string of misfortunes that befall Pauline as she tries to escape one hungry creature after another.
The writing is well done and there are just enough words to every page that the story moves forward nicely.
I am giving this book four stars. The only reason it is not getting five stars is because there are a few instances where the words are mixed around so much that they are difficult for children to understand, and a couple of the pictures are too dark to see what is happening very easily.
The Illustrations: The artwork is unique and stylized. It fits right in with the style of the writing and compliments it very well. The only complaint I had was the one I mentioned in the paragraph above. Other than that, this was a very fun read out loud book!
Anonymous
Posted August 10, 2008
Wonderful book with rhymes and fun story - my 4 year old daughter loves this book! Great book to read - not boring !
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 21, 2007
'But round my roost I hear suspicious Words like Chicken Pie, Delicious . . . ' Pauline Poulet begins her autobiography as a typical chick, resigned to peep and peck and do what chickens do best: lay eggs. But one day, she spies The Farmer drooling over ¿101 Chicken Recipes¿ and knows he is contemplating murder most fowl. Now she must choose: be Plucky or Plucked. So with a brawk and a squawk, it¿s hens, away! Pauline flies the coop as fast as her tasty drumsticks will carry her. Life isn¿t easy, however, on the other side of the picket fence. In from-frying-pan-into-the-fire fashion, she faces a carton of bad eggs: snarling foxes, hungry hawks, even peg-legged pirates, all with omelets on their minds. But Pauline prevails, landing `wilted, wounded, weak of wing¿ in the arms of some very special rescuers. Award-winning poet Ellen Kelley has hatched a hilarious, heart-ful tale with rollicking rhythms, active alliterations, and a rhyming text that snaps and cackles and begs to be read aloud. Michael Slack¿s wacky illustrations (take a gander at Pauline¿s eye-lashed, egg-like eyes!) match the energy and excitement and kid-friendly humor that will have all the chickadees in your roost chuckling and clucking for more.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 9, 2008
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Overview
When Pauline Poulet learns she'll be the next special of the day at Cock-a-Doodle-Doo Café, she flies the coop faster than you can say "Chicken pie, delicious"! Thus begins her journey of peril and catastrophe, courage and chance: She is chased. She is dunked. She is tossed tail over beak. But can Pauline escape the dinner plate?
Kids everywhere will love clucking along with this chicken's battle cry: ...