Winging It: Henny by Elizabeth Rose Stanton

HENNY WAS NOT A TYPICAL CHICKEN.

HENNY WAS BORN WITH ARMS.

SOMETIMES SHE LIKED HAVING ARMS...

But sometimes it was a drag, especially when her arms trailed so far behind her that of necessity she always had to be the last in line behind Mama Hen.

The other barnyard animals were less than kind in their observations about her peculiarity. Even the pigs laughed at her.

On the other hand, she like having hands at the ends of her arms, hands that enabled her to climb trees, while he sibling chicks were still flapping their stubby little wings uselessly. Instead of pecking up bugs on the hoof, Henny could pick up dainty insect morsels with her chopsticks. The possibilities were endless--from hailing a cab downtown to piloting her own plane.

Henny also found that she could lend a hand around the farm. She helped feed the cows, and much to their consternation, milk them, too! She was handy at finding eggs hidden in the henhouse, and once when Mr. Farmer dropped one, Henny just reached up and caught it. Henny was a life-saving hero!

In her first first picture book, Henny (Paula Wiseman Books) (Simon & Schuster, 2014), Elizabeth Rose Stanton has a rather eggs-centric character in Henny, whose eggstraordinarily ambidexterous abilities make for some wry illustrations (Henny checking her armpits to see if she needs deodorant or worrying about hangnails and tennis elbow), even as she daydreams of all the amazing things-- trapeze artist?--that her arms and hands allow her to do.

After all, if pigs can fly, why can't Henny have a manicure?