Purim Chicken

by Margery Cuyler, Puy Pinillos (Illustrator)

Overview

It's Purim and the animals on the farm are planning their celebration! They decide to sing songs, wear costumes, and put on a play about Queen Esther. It’s fun until Quack the duck, the star of their show, goes missing! Cluck the hen must be brave like Queen Esther and go in search of Quack near the fox’s den. But when Cluck finds Quack, the duck's feathers are ruffled from her time with the fox. She can't perform! Will Cluck have enough courage to play Queen Esther and save the show?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807533819
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	01/01/2017
Series:	Purim Series
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	590L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Margery Cuyler has worked in publishing for more than twenty years and is the author of many books for children, including 100th Day Worries and The Bumpy Little Pumpkin. She lives in New Jersey, with her husband, their two sons, and two cats.

Puy Pinillos is from Spain and started her career as an editorial photographer. After winning the Young Artist Award in her hometown, she moved to London to extend her art studies.

Editorial Reviews

01/23/2017
Cuyler’s (Skeleton for Dinner) punny barnyard tale is well suited to the playfulness of Purim. Cluck the chicken is initially disappointed when she is passed over for the role of Queen Esther in the animals’ Purim play, and instead consigned to the audience. But Cluck’s efforts to develop an extra-loud cluck to shout at Haman during the play come in handy after the show’s star, Quack, is duck-napped by a fox. Pinillos’s (Look! Fish!) vibrant, painterly images amplify the off-kilter mood of the plot. Whether the dialogue elicits groans or giggles may depend on the family (“ ‘What bad moos,’ mooed Moo”), but it’s undeniably fun to read out loud. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Tracey Adams, Adams Literary. Illustrator’s agency: Plum Pudding Illustration. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Cuyler's punny barnyard tale is well suited to the playfulness of Purim . . . undeniably fun to read out loud."—Publishers Weekly


"The illustrations are candy-bright, cheerful, and quirky . . . A light and fluffy Purim tale."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

04/01/2017
PreS-Gr 2—Cluck the chicken wants to play Queen Esther in the barnyard Purim play, but the role goes to Quack the duck. On the day before Purim, Quack is kidnapped by Fox. Cluck is "brave like Queen Esther," rescues Quack, and gets the starring role in the show after all. While this book, with its theme of a brave heroine, does loosely mirror the story of the Jewish holiday, Purim's history and customs are not explained in the text and there is no author's note, making this book most suitable for audiences already in the know. The naming scheme can be rather confusing; for instance, after Cluck and Quack return to the barnyard, "Quack quack, quack, quacked out the story of Cluck's brave rescue." There are quite a few groan-inducing puns: "'How udderly terrible!' mooed Moo." The illustrations are candy-bright, cheerful, and quirky. VERDICT A light and fluffy Purim tale for readers already familiar with the basics of the holiday.—Heidi Rabinowitz, Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL

School Library Journal