I Got a Chicken for My Birthday

January 15, 2018
Though Ana had asked her Abuela Lola for amusement park tickets for her birthday, she receives a chicken instead. Disappointed but good-natured, Ana reasons that the fowl is a better gift than socks or underwear—and she does like scrambled eggs. But her chicken has other plans in mind: after making a long and eclectic shopping list (items include a cement mixer, fireworks, and 85 rubber ducks), the chicken recruits Ana’s pets to help with a secret construction project. Gehl’s matter-of-fact narration, built around repetition of the title, offers a dry contrast to the outlandish goings-on. The chicken, who communicates solely via written placards, eventually directs Ana to send for her Abuela, who arrives via bulldozer to help reveal the amusement park that the chicken has built. Filled with splashy colors and textures, Horne’s mixed-media pictures playfully fiddle with perspective and scale while including details that step up the fun: the seats on the roller-coaster are giant eggshells, and Abuela Lola rocks a purple updo. An oddball birthday tale with heart. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Erzsi Deàk, Hen & Ink Literary Studio.

April 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-This silly story starts with an unexpected birthday gift. A young girl with jet black braids is hoping for a trip to the amusement park but instead of satisfying her request, Abuela Lola sends a chicken. Despite her visible disappointment, the girl tries to make the best of the situation. But the chicken shows little interest in egg laying and things start to get strange when the chicken presents the girl with a long shopping list and enlists her other pets in a mysterious construction project. By the end of the story, it becomes clear that the girl's birthday gift is much more than a strange new pet. The text is simple with the phrase, "I got a chicken for my birthday" repeated throughout will encourage child participation. Colorful and energetic pen-and-ink illustrations pair well with the humorous story. VERDICT Kids will enjoy pointing out the details that provide visual clues as to what the chicken is up to. An amusing story with a twist, perfect for a maker or construction storytime.-Kimberly Tolson, Millis Public Library, MA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 15, 2018
What's wrong with Abuela Lola? Our birthday girl asked her three times for amusement-park tickets, and you know what? Abuela sent her a take-charge chicken styling yellow construction boots instead!If that isn't bad enough, the tool-belt-wearing denizen of the barnyard has subverted all the pigtailed Latina's pets. Not a one has time for cake, no one wants to play, and everyone is ignoring the aggrieved narrator. To make matters worse, the chicken (via imperative-clause picket signs) demands that Abuela travel posthaste to the child's backyard. Dogs wearing hard hats, birds hoisting girders, grandmas operating bulldozers--has the world gone mad? Gehl's sparsely worded wink to Anne Isabella Ritchie's evolving axiom, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life," is made into a masterpiece by Horne's distinctive and humorously sly illustrations. The raucous colors pop against the wry, understated refrain, "I got a chicken for my birthday." Practically every clever detail begs to be the center of attention. Is the chicken's scrolled supply list with the sneakily embedded song lyrics the piece de resistance, or is it the hamster powering the monstrous Ferris wheel? Visual puns compete with subtle tweaks to the funny bone, and each deserves to be savored in its own right.Either Horne was in Gehl's pocket or vice versa, because this utterly seamless blend of story and art is an ingenious treat for all ages. (Picture book. 3-8)

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March 1, 2018
Preschool-G Though she hopes to get amusement-park tickets for her birthday, the young narrator of this fanciful tale instead gets a chicken. But this bird, who has no time for eating or laying eggs, is no run-of-the-mill fowl. It develops a project, requiring a long list of items and the help of many friends. This project is slowly shown to be an amusement park. Although the story is slight, it is creatively told. The facts are revealed in a low-key repetitive text, and the words are kept to a minimum, all of the humor and action in the brightly colored illustrations. The narration moves slowly along, with the title inserted on every other double-page spread. The illustrations show the pleasantly plump, dark-feathered, needle-headed chicken industriously scurrying about to build the amusement park. Many characters?mostly animals?are brought in to help build, including the other household pets and the human family. This chicken story is definitely as good as a ticket to an amusement park, maybe better.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Ana receives a chicken for her birthday instead of the amusement park tickets she requested. Little does she know that Abuela Lola--and the chicken--had the ultimate surprise in mind all along, which plays out amusingly in Horne's joke-filled cartoony illustrations. Repetition of the titular refrain throughout the story gives the text a lyrical quality.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)