Different Strokes from Different Folks: Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

In this reworking of the old riddle, Dial Books has assembled a hen house full of "egg-cellent artists" (their words, not mine!) to illustrate the answer to that old query, Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?. The artists, all top-of-the-roost in the picture-book world, bring a tremendous range of styles, palettes, and media to the task, but all share eggs-actly what the question deserves--a corn-fed sense of humor.

For example, to answer the question "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Marla Frazee shows an obviously upwardly-mobile hen streaking across the road from a dreary hen house to a veritable Renaissance McMansion of chicken houses, with the thought balloon "DUH!" above her little bird-brained head.

Tedd Arnold's answer shows a chicken on the other side of the road blithely calling back to a fearful possum, "Ta-da! Your turn!" as a giant truck bears down on the crossing point. "Why did the chicken cross the road?" "To show the possum that it could be done!"

Other featured artists include Jon Agee, Harry Bliss, David Cotrow, Mary Grandpre', Lynn Munsinger, Jerry Pinkney, Vladimir Radunsky, Chris Raschka, Judy Schachner, David Shannon, Chris Sheban, and Mo Willems. All of the layouts are something to crow about, and nobody lays an egg! This book is worth its price just to see how many ways there are to draw a funny chicken.

For older picture book fans, this one is sure to grow a plentiful crop-full of cluckles, er, chuckles out there among the free-range readers!