Various breeds of chicken come home to roost in this unfocused volume. The scattershot text strains for humor while ignoring the most basic factual information: e.g., a spread devoted to chickens' varying sizes doesn't relay their heights or weights. The Bantam Bearded Blue Hen, Silver Spangled Rooster, and Onagadoni are among the uncommon chickens that appear in the clear color photos. Glos. From HORN BOOK Spring 2004, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 3-5-Facts are fun, not foul, in this lively look at chickens. Text and photos share equal importance as they present a brief history of domestic chickens, information about chickens in general, and characteristics of various breeds. The author plays with words as she cleverly enlivens what might otherwise be dry factoids. The photographer plays along, with large color pictures that capture the natural humor of the domesticated fowl. The detailed close-ups are posed portraits that coordinate with the text. The original backgrounds have been cropped out of many pictures, leaving the birds mounted on the bright, colored pages. The text is arranged casually around the art, pulling the eye across the pages and back. The visual effect is exciting. The illustrations depict many of the more than 200 breeds in the world today, with each bird clearly identified. These chickens are not common, and neither is the book. Children will find that, beyond the ordinary report source, it is an enjoyable read.-Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This quick tour through the wacky world of exotic chicken breeds combines show-stopping color photos with breezy, lightly factual commentary. Announcing a "Pullet Surprise!," Feldman focuses on the wildly diverse eggs, feathers, combs, feet, and other physical features that have been bred into show chickens, shifting to smaller type when expanding on a topic so as not to slow down less-practiced readers. The photos, several to a page, are mostly headshots--perhaps not, as is quickly evident, a chicken's most attractive feature, but guaranteed to send young viewers rearing back in astonishment and delighted disgust. Sans any leads to further information, this seems largely intended as momentary entertainment, and each breed is confusingly identified with two, or even three, names. Still, audiences will crow over it. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

With fascinating facts about farmyard fowl, Who You Callin' Chicken? by Thea Feldman, photos by Stephen Green- Armytage, features startling photographs of chickens with unusual combs and wattles, long or curly feathers, muffs, beards and more. This lighthearted "tale of feathers" uses everyday phrases and joke punchlines to deliver the facts about over 200 breeds of chickens. For a wide variety of outlandish fowl, the text asks "Check out all these weird-looking birds! What do you think they are?... It's the Pullet Surprise!" (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved