Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken
"I loved reading this story inspired by the real Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken of Chinatown!  Kids will be encouraged to seek clever solutions for the problems they see being ignored."  
—Grace Lin, award-winning author of A Big Mooncake for Little Star and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

"An imaginative retelling of a true story, Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken is something to squawk about!"
—Elana K. Arnold, author of the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of and the A Boy Called Bat series

New York City is not a great place for a chicken to live. It’s crowded and loud and busy. But you can find the city’s most famous chicken, Lillie, a.k.a. the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken, in Chinatown.

When tourists ask, “Where’s the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken?” locals point them to a video-game arcade on Mott Street, where Lillie plays games of tic-tac-toe against anyone who wants to play against her.

But eight-year-old Beatrice worries that the dark arcade is just not a good place for Lillie to live. She devises a clever plan: She will challenge the arcade’s Big Boss in a game of tic-tac-toe. Will Beatrice win Lillie’s freedom?

Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken is a picture book inspired by the true story of Lillie, a real chicken trained to play tic-tac-toe in New York's Chinatown Fair arcade, and her relocation to a farm for rescued animals. Featuring vibrant paintings of Chinatown by the award-winning illustrator Louie Chin (Bodega Cat, Fighting to Belong!  Vols. I and II), Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken showcases a local cultural touchstone and shows how children can stand up for what they believe in and solve tough problems with ingenuity and heart.

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Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken
"I loved reading this story inspired by the real Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken of Chinatown!  Kids will be encouraged to seek clever solutions for the problems they see being ignored."  
—Grace Lin, award-winning author of A Big Mooncake for Little Star and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

"An imaginative retelling of a true story, Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken is something to squawk about!"
—Elana K. Arnold, author of the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of and the A Boy Called Bat series

New York City is not a great place for a chicken to live. It’s crowded and loud and busy. But you can find the city’s most famous chicken, Lillie, a.k.a. the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken, in Chinatown.

When tourists ask, “Where’s the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken?” locals point them to a video-game arcade on Mott Street, where Lillie plays games of tic-tac-toe against anyone who wants to play against her.

But eight-year-old Beatrice worries that the dark arcade is just not a good place for Lillie to live. She devises a clever plan: She will challenge the arcade’s Big Boss in a game of tic-tac-toe. Will Beatrice win Lillie’s freedom?

Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken is a picture book inspired by the true story of Lillie, a real chicken trained to play tic-tac-toe in New York's Chinatown Fair arcade, and her relocation to a farm for rescued animals. Featuring vibrant paintings of Chinatown by the award-winning illustrator Louie Chin (Bodega Cat, Fighting to Belong!  Vols. I and II), Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken showcases a local cultural touchstone and shows how children can stand up for what they believe in and solve tough problems with ingenuity and heart.

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Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken

Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken

Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken

Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken

Hardcover

$19.95 
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Overview

"I loved reading this story inspired by the real Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken of Chinatown!  Kids will be encouraged to seek clever solutions for the problems they see being ignored."  
—Grace Lin, award-winning author of A Big Mooncake for Little Star and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

"An imaginative retelling of a true story, Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken is something to squawk about!"
—Elana K. Arnold, author of the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of and the A Boy Called Bat series

New York City is not a great place for a chicken to live. It’s crowded and loud and busy. But you can find the city’s most famous chicken, Lillie, a.k.a. the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken, in Chinatown.

When tourists ask, “Where’s the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken?” locals point them to a video-game arcade on Mott Street, where Lillie plays games of tic-tac-toe against anyone who wants to play against her.

But eight-year-old Beatrice worries that the dark arcade is just not a good place for Lillie to live. She devises a clever plan: She will challenge the arcade’s Big Boss in a game of tic-tac-toe. Will Beatrice win Lillie’s freedom?

Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken is a picture book inspired by the true story of Lillie, a real chicken trained to play tic-tac-toe in New York's Chinatown Fair arcade, and her relocation to a farm for rescued animals. Featuring vibrant paintings of Chinatown by the award-winning illustrator Louie Chin (Bodega Cat, Fighting to Belong!  Vols. I and II), Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken showcases a local cultural touchstone and shows how children can stand up for what they believe in and solve tough problems with ingenuity and heart.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9798890130297
Publisher: Third State Books
Publication date: 08/19/2025
Pages: 32
Product dimensions: 9.25(w) x 10.75(h) x (d)
Age Range: 4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kimberly Tso was born in New York City, and growing up she split her time between there and Arlington, Virginia. She now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her partner and two daughters. Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken, illustrated by Louie Chin, is her first book. Prior to writing children’s books, she was a grantwriter for nonprofits and taught grantwriting to graduate public policy students. When she is not writing books, she enjoys cooking, reading, playing video games, solving puzzles, and spending time with her family. 



Louie Chin is an illustrator whose work includes the children's book, Bodega Cat, which was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection in 2020. He has created artworks for a variety of publications and projects, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Nike. He works in both traditional mediums such as watercolor and gouache as well as with digital art software. He was born and raised in New York City, where he still resides. Louie is of Chinese-American descent.
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