Groaner Alert! Chicken Butt's Back! by Erica S. Perl and Henry Cole

"HEY! DO YOU KNOW WHAT?"

"IN FACT, I DO. AND WHERE AND WHY AND HOW AND WHO."

"BUT MOM! I'LL MAKE THIS CRYSTAL CLEAR...."

"NO MORE "CHICKEN BUTT," MY DEAR."

That's what she thinks! Mom is no match for that inveterate punster she calls her son. In an exuberant sequel to their riotously irreverent (some say "cheeky") first book Chicken Butt! (Abrams), even an expedition to the grocery store gives our young wordplayer opportunity for more of his call-and response humor. Over and over Mom falls into his verbal trap as she absentmindedly tries to finish her shopping.

"WHICH BUTT?"

"WITCH BUTT!!!!"

With Henry Cole's familiar goofy, bug-eyed chickens and other comic critters appearing in sequence, it's a word-playground for Erica Perl's little pun-lover with his happy homophones and homonyms at the ready in her latest giggle-and-word-fest, Chicken Butt's Back! (Abrams, 2011)

Butt of the Joke: Chicken Butt! by Erica Perl

"You know what?

"What?"

"CHICKEN BUTT!"

"You know why?"

"Why?"

"CHICKEN THIGH!"

"You know how?

"How?"

CHICKEN EYEBROW!"

Yeah, yeah, yeah! It's the silliest, the stupidest, the downright BOTTOM for schoolboy schoolyard jokes, all dressed up with those irresistibly goofy, googly-eyed chickens that illustrator Henry Cole conjures up, and it's just plain fun for the reader, slapstick verbal humor which will knock kids back on their keisters abounds in such lines as

"You know where?"

"Where?" (from the disgusted but still determinedly patient dad)

"CHICKEN UNDERWEAR!"

Erica Perl's Chicken Butt! (Abrams, 2009) even gives the youthful jokester the last line, the sorta surprising switch to "MONKEY BUTT!" in her salute to wordplay (or we might say fowl play,) one of what was a humongous harvest of heiny humor in 2009. Along with Black's cheery Chicken Cheeks (see my earlier review here) and Halliday's happyfest, Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo (reviewed here), 2009 was a banner year for bottoms, so we might as well let Erica Perl's latest have its, um, seat at this table. As one reviewer says, "Warning: Kids will want to read this one over and over and over again! An unhinged piece of slap-happy rhyming…rocket-propelled artwork… the romp is a powerful piece of cacophony, more frenetic by the moment."

BEWARE OF THE HAMSTER! Ferocious Fluffity by Erica Perl

Mr. Drake's class has a new pet.She's tiny and cute; she looks so sweet! They love her fluff and her neat little feet. But Mr. Drake has an important pet point to make.

"Look, don't touch!
She's too little. It's too much!

Though the children nodded YES,
Did they mean it? Take a guess.

The kids in Room 2-D all secretly plan to get their hands on Fluffity at the first opportunity.

And then fate steps in. Mr. Drake sleeps late. The unsupervised class shouts HOORAY! Today is the day for Fluffity's first hands-on experience!

No one's sure who held her first.
Things got bad. Then things got worse.

She was tiny, she was cute.
She was also quite a brute!

Bert is the first to be bit, but when he yells, (Yee-OUCH!), another student catches Fluffity and gets chomped. The hamster goes from hand to hand, with the same results, from Zonder and Zuna to both Kevin K and Kevin B. Fluffity takes it on the lam down the hall, with Nathan getting the worst of the capture effort.

She bit "Dathan" on his "dose."

She bit Perrie, Pam and Paul.
She bit them, bit them, bit them all.

As the kids from Room 2-D take refuge in the library from their mighty-bitey mite, Mr. Drake rushes in, just in time to get bit on the ankle. It's not exactly the sharing and shared experience he had in mind for their first classroom pet.

All's well at last, as Mr. D. calms Room 2-D and restores Fluffity to her hamster habitat, explaining that hamsters have to be handled tactically until they settle in and suggests letting their pet release some of her nervous energy on her exercise wheel before approaching her again. And then he surprises the class with their second classroom pet--Jake the Snake. The kids are thrilled, but Fluffity finds that she is NOT.

Lila Perl's Ferocious Fluffity: A Mighty Bite-y Class Pet (Abrams Books, 2016) features her funny couplets in this witty tale of their tiny terror, with notable children's artist Henry Cole taking over the visual storytelling with his usual hilarious illustrations, from the fearful Fluffity to the well-individualized kids in the class and the mega-cool Mr. Drake. Cole even manages to put in a plug for books and reading in the bulletin boards posted in the classroom, hall, and particularly the apropos BOOKS YOU CAN SINK YOUR TEETH INTO! in the library. A perfect cautionary tale for kids (and teachers) contemplating a new class pet!

Lila Perl and Henry Cole are the co-creators of the noted giggle-fest pair, Chicken Butt and Chicken Butt's Back! (See reviews here.)

Top Hen! One Happy Chicken by Diana Calkins

ONE DAY A TINY BROWN CHICKEN FOUND HERSELF ALL ALONE ON A SIDEWALK.

A kind lady finds her, and since keeping poultry is prohited in her subdivision, she decides to find the adorable orphan chick a home. And she has just the place! She knows a lady who has two kids, three dogs, six cats, two parrots, and a bunny. How much difference can one tiny chick make in that menagerie? The little boy took to the chick immediately.

"MY TURN TO HOLD HER NEXT!" SAID THE LITTLE GIRL. "WE'LL CALL HER ZOE," SAID THE MOM."OH, BOTHER!" SAID THE DAD.

So Zoe moves in and soon is on the way to being the Mistress of the Menagerie. An unfortunate run-in with a rescue dog named Foxy doesn't go well, but Zoe achieves local fame as --

"THE CHICKEN WITH A BANDAID ON HER BUTT!"

Zoe's escapades finally force the vet to clip her wings to keep her out of treetops, but she soon finds eggs-actly her true destiny, discovering her prowess at egg-laying and finding diversion in her talent for doing so in creative places.

SURPRISE! MOM FOUND ONE IN THE DRYER!

It's a good life for Zoe and her big family. But tempus fugit, and in good time all the pets are adopted and the kids are grown and ready to fly the coop themselves, leaving Mom and Dad with only one happy hen, but one with an egg-cellent reputation! Diane Calkins' One Happy Chicken (1) (BookBaby/StoryMonster, 2020), is a light-hearted story of a critter-loving family and a hen with a flair  for the unpredictable.  Artist Sharon Davey provides the comic illustrations for this merry menagerie with a happy ending for all.  Roost well, everyone!

The Case of the Disappeared Drawers: Charlie's Superhero Underpants by Paul Bright

ON A WILD AND WINDY DAY,
ROUND ABOUT THE END OF MAY,
A GREAT AND GUSTING GALE BLEW THE LAUNDRY CLEAN AWAY.

SOCKS AND SHIRTS, A WOOLLY HAT,
BUT FAR WORSE THAN ALL THAT
WAS YOUNG CHARLIE'S SUPERHERO UNDERPANTS.

Now, mind you, these are no prosaic underpants: Charlie has already proved their powers in many a daring deed of doughty duty. They are no tiresome whitie tighties either. They're yellow, with red trim and the word POW! on the front and KERZAP! OOF! and SPLAT! emblazoned on their backside.

What's a superhero to do without his nifty knickers?

Without his superhero underpants, Charlie's powers are impoverished, and when a preliminary search (by "boats and planes and satellites") fails, Charlie holds the requisite press conference and announces that he's off on a globetrotting geography tour to return his drawers to their proper derriere. First, it's over the English Channel by balloon, where he finds "a fine French fox" in possession of sister Sophie's socks. Other articles of family-wear are found on the Serengeti, the plateau of Peru, ("llamas in brother Ben's pajamas"), and the muddy Mississippi where a 'gator sports Gramps' woolly cap.

Finally the long trek takes him to Nepal, where he spots a giant shaggy Yeti with his nether parts jammed into Charlie's diminutive drawers, pictured humorously in Lee Wildish's breezy cartoon style in a vertical double-page spread. A trade is quickly made with the woolly hat for the special skivvies :

CHARLIE THANKED THE YETI, AND HE PULLED HIS PANTS UP TIGHT.

THEY HAD POW! ON THE FRONT SO HE HAD PUT THEM ON JUST RIGHT.

HE RAISED ONE ARM UP HIGH AND HE FLEW INTO THE SKY!

Paul Bright's newest, Charlie's Superhero Underpants (Good Books, 2010), offers zippy verse with a catchy internal rhyme scheme, and coupled with Wildish's clever cartooning, provides plenty of giggle fare for the picture book set, who are known to dote on earlier entries in the growing shelf of posterior lit. (For those who do dote on duff stuff, there is a roundup of recent rearward renderings listed in my May 22 review of Chicken Butt! here.)

Rainbow Ruler? King of the Zoo by Erica Perl

THEY SAY THE LION IS KING OF THE JUNGLE.
BUT WHO'S THE KING OF THE ZOO?

CARLOS! THAT'S WHO!

Carlos the Chameleon is a legend in his own mind. According to this self-proclaimed Master of the Menagerie, he's the coolest, the cleverest, the charming-est critter in the enclosure.

With his two little lizard henchmen, Carlos leads the way in a tour of his kingdom. But what's this? A pretender to the crown? A sign in the kangaroo's domain proclaims that he is King of the Zoo!

Carlos is so angry he turns orange with envy. In fact he's hopping mad!

In front of the monkey cage, Carlos stops and scratches his head at another insurrectional sign. Monkey? King of the Zoo? Carlos frowns and turns brown at the very thought!

The tiger's claim to rule makes Carlos growl. He stomps his foot at the elephant's proclamation of power. Everybody's getting into the act--giraffe, even an itsy-bitsy pygmy shrew! And there's that lion, at it again, lording it over everyone and claiming to be King of the Beasts. Sheesh! Carlos the Chameleon refuses to abdicate!

KING OF THE ZOO? ME. THAT'S WHO!

In her latest, King of the Zoo (Orchard Books, 2013). Erica Perl spoofs its improbable pretender to the throne, happily abetted by the jolly comedic illustrations of Jackie Urbanovic, whose delightful Duck at the Door and sassy sequels are comic portrayals of another manic menagerie, starring the duck who came to dinner and stayed and stayed and stayed. See more of the unique Urbanovic's work here.

Erica Perl is also the author of the charming and cheeky Chicken Butt!

Doing Unto Others: Bully by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Words hurt.

In Laura Vaccaro Seeger's Bully  (Roaring Brook, 2013), the opening endpapers reveal the source of a young bull's bad attitude. His friendly overtures to a big gray bull are rebuffed, and brushed off  in no uncertain terms,  head down, he slinks away, feeling small and unwanted.

But when he meets up with a trio of young animals who a want to play, he responds in kind, hitting where it hurts. He calls the little hen "Chicken!" He tells the turtle he's slowpokey, and a bee who crosses his path buzzes off when he gets a brusque brushoff. And when a friendly young skunk approaches, the little bull points out the obvious, with a gnarly, snarly "You stink!" As he vents his own hurt by hurting others, the little bull appears to grow larger and meaner, finally filling the pages, all evil eyes, horns and hooves, crowding out the others.

But when a little goat who crosses his path is told to "butt out," he finally points out the truth with a word.

"BULLY!"

Suddenly, the little bull gets it. Deflated, he asks himself:  Is he a bully? Is he like that big bull who blew him off? Ohh!

In a succession of award-winning picture books--Green, First the Egg (Caldecott Honor Book and Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book (Awards)), Lemons Are Not Red (Ala Notable Book(Awards)), (Neal Porter Books) and Dog and Bear (Neal Porter Books) (Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner-Best Picture Book) (Awards))--Seeger has shown herself incapable of creating a book that is not fresh, insightful, and moving, absolutely lyrical even with the briefest of texts, always with humor, and a standout in original conception and design.

Simple in style and with the sparest of texts, this story zooms in on the creation and redemption of a bully who suddenly sees himself as others see him and sees others in himself.  It's a complex theme, as deep as human nature itself, well told in bold pictures and the leanest of dialogue, but meaningful even to the youngest.   Booklist says," ... for all its simplicity, this story opens up a number of complex issues for discussion," and Publishers Weekly puts in that "Seeger’s pages pop with action, and the lesson couldn’t be clearer."