I would use this book with 5th grade because the vocabulary is difficult to understand and the book has long sentences per page. I would use this book as an independent read because students might enjoy some fictional characters that talk as animals.

An okay-story about a boy and his talking chicken, his mom hospitalized with a difficult pregnancy, and a fox on the loose, shaking down a hen house's chickens for their eggs.

Not a bad book, but a little blah. ( )

MSBA Nominee 2009-2010

I liked this one. A talking chicken! That's probably the most important point for booktalks. ;) ( )

Josh is at home on the farm with dad and grandma, while ma is in the hospital 'cause the baby's giving her trouble. Everything's going well, but feathers fly when Semolina, Josh's talking chicken, breathes news of a fox in the henhouse.

Cowley's novel is surprisingly sophisticated, given the central gag of a talking chicken. But this book doesn't dwell on the absurd, balancing the story between Josh's stress at home, worrying about his mom, his friendship with Semolina, the mystery of the missing eggs, the boat he's building in the back shed, and his strange new feelings about a childhood friend. If it sounds busy, it is-- which only adds to the realistic feel of the story and characters. Laugh-out-loud funny at times--particularly in the form of a wisecrack from Semolina--and sad and worrisome at others, Chicken Feathers takes its characters through their full range of emotions, and the reader right along with it. A few pencil illustrations dot the pages; great for kids in grades 2-5, possibly early middle school as well, for late/reluctant readers. ( )