Chicken Expedition: Big Chickens Fly the Coop by Leslie Helakoski

Illustrator Henry Cole can really draw cartoon chickens--in all their silly, googly-eyed, fearful and frazzled glory--and Leslie Helakoski's new picture book Big Chickens Fly the Coop takes full advantage of his art to tell a tale of some cooped-up hens who finally cure their coop fever.

"We should always stay home,
we should always stay home,
we should always stay home. Except....

We've always wanted to see the farmhouse."

These simpleton explorers have only the vaguest idea of what a farmhouse looks like, but they set off on their trek and immediately come upon a likely prospect for farmhouse-hood.

"Is that a farmhouse?
It has a roof;
It has a door;
It has a... tail?"

This domicile turns out to be a doghouse, of course, and the loud barking of the two doghouse dwellers sends the four chickens into a poultry panic, as they "flounce, trounce, and body-bounce" out of the way.

Back in their hen house haven, the chickens consider staying put, but the desire to see the farmhouse takes over once more, and they approach another large object in their path.

Is that the farmhouse?
It has a chimney.
It has a seat.
It has ...tires?

And it also has a starter, which the hens happen to hit in their investigations, and when the tractor erupts with puffs of dirty black smoke, the hens scritch and hitch and flip-switch their way back to the coop to regroup.

Next the chickens sneak forward and encounter something with a gate, windows, and hay. It's the BARN, where (YIKES!) wild things with hard shoes and whipping manes practically scare their feathers off. But just as the hens' hopes seem hobbled, they realize that their experiences have made them brave:

"Chickens can be loud...
Chickens can be dirty...,
Chickens can be ... wild!"

And besides, their flight from the horrifying horses has landed them right in front of ... THE FARMHOUSE! Not only that, but they suddenly realize that their hen house has been hard by the farmhouse all along!

"They viewed,
shooed,
and woo-hoo-ed...

'Now we can visit the farmhouse anytime we want,' they said,

and strutted...
all the way home."

Helakoski and Cole offer up an egg-cellent example of the virtues of venturesomeness and the joys of sweet silliness in their latest fowl play fantasy.


For more simply silly agricultural absurdity for the board book set, see Sandra Boynton's classics Moo Baa La La La and Barnyard Dance! (Boynton on Board), available in English and Spanish.