OMG THERE IS A SEQUEL TO UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER!?

[conuly]

WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THIS!?

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer is the rare book that I believe in pressing into every child's hand. It is sweet and adorable, it has great illustrations, it's diverse, and it has magical chickens. What's not to love?

Are You Ready To Hatch an Unusual Chicken turns out to be just as great! Sophia keeps taking care of her chickens, goes to middle school - and gets new chicks to take care of, with new, even more unusual powers! Highly recommended.

While the cast of characters is diverse in race and sexuality, I found Sophie focusing on race distracting since that had little to do with the story.

The author has chosen to describe each newly introduced character using their race (among other descriptors). I strongly suspect that this reviewer is not "distracted" by the fact that Black, Hispanic, and Asian people are all tagged thusly in the narrative, but by the fact that White characters are as well.

And maybe it can be a little jarring if you're not used to it, but the very fact that it is jarring is proof that we all should've been doing this a long time ago.

Race does come up in a very "part of the story" way in two ways. First, Sophie is one of two non-White students in her class (and possibly the whole school?) and dwells on this. When she makes friends with the other Hispanic student her other two friends are awkward and weird about it, and Sophie does consider the possibility that this is a race thing (while also being glad to have a friend who just gets it about shared cultural markers that the other friends don't have) but it's just as likely, perhaps more likely, that this is simply 6th grade relationship navigation drama: "How do you make friends with your friend's new friend!?" which makes it very relevant to a story about a 6th grader. Anyway, they come around.

The other incident is one short chapter where Sophia and her cousin are targeted by a drive-by "Why don't you go back where you came from?" It's a bit of a mood whiplash, but as the whole book is slice-of-life, and they live in America... I mean... any child growing up in the US is eventually going to witness or in some way be involved in an act of racial bigotry. It's a slice of everybody's life. The scene could have been better integrated into the narrative, but I can't say it doesn't belong there.

(But I'm 97% sure that this reviewer is only complaining about calling out each and every character by their race, including the ones that aren't minorities.)

Comments

[8hyenas]

Ahh! Thanks for the info, R loved the first one

[conuly]

This one is every bit as good.

[yarrowkat]

i live on a farm (with about 30 chickens, many turkeys we raise for thanksgiving market every year, and some peacocks) and my farmmates have a 7-year-old. i'm going to put this in front of him, thank you!

[conuly]

One note: While there is such a thing as taking reading levels too seriously, this book does have a high lexile rating (880) for second grade and is written in an unusual, challenging format (letters). This book may be best read with an adult this year is what I'm saying.

[yarrowkat]

he's ahead on math & sciences and most cognitive skills but behind in reading, so he's doing most of his reading with his mom and his reading tutor in the homeschool group at this point. he'll catch up.

[conuly]

That's fairly typical, and at his age I'd refrain from considering him "behind" at any subject unless there's a probable learning disability or intellectual disability involved, honestly. Kids can be so wild in their development during those early years of school!

[reynardo]

I love the "Rivers of London" series by Ben Aaronovitch, and one thing I noticed in there is that the narrator will mention the person's race, no matter what it is. And it *was* jarring when "white" was mentioned, but then I realised that of course, not mentioning it is assuming that the reader will always think "white" if it's not, so it's a valid point to make the reader think.

And because Peter is part West African, he notices a white person's race every single time, so of course he should mention it.

[conuly]

The Horn Book is doing it in reviews now, or stating broadly that characters 'are assumed to be' white, and it's... overdue, but quite unsettling the first few times!

[fred_mouse]

Ooh. I picked up the first one on your say so, although I've not read it yet. I'll add this one to my request list for 'books to order when I have cash'.

[conuly]

It's a short book, lots of pictures - get to it!

Incidentally, I'm sorry it's taken so long to thank you for the cookbook. I always love cookbooks, but I've been beset by fear that it was somehow intended for somebody else and that saying that would offend.

[fred_mouse]

Real soon now, just as soon as I finish some of the ones I'm already reading!

And you are welcome on the cookbook. I hadn't realised it would be there already!

[lizvogel]

I read a book not too long ago where the author identified the race on all but the I-guess-white? characters, and I found *that* jarring. I don't normally pay much attention to character physical descriptions, but after a while I found myself thinking, you told me what all the others looked like, what does this one look like? I finally stopped and paged back, and worked out that everyone she described was non-white, so I guess the blank slates were supposed to be white folks? It was the inconsistency that distracted me.

[conuly]

Yup. It's all or nothing to me, now.

[batwrangler]

Thanks for the rec for both of these Unusual Chicken books!

[conuly]

They're the best! Lighthearted, diverse, and absolutely adorable. Plus, I like the illustrations.

Now, if you want something somewhat more serious in tone, you could try Oddity.

[liannas-mom.livejournal.com]

What!! I'm getting that sequel. My daughter get to meet the author and have her book signed next month (:

[conuly]

Wait, what!?

[liannas-mom.livejournal.com]

Ok...if you email me your address I will absolutely send you a signed copy! Sequel or original? I'm having a conversation now with my 8 year old on the ending and poultry shows!! The signing will be in January :) I feel it is an overlooked amazing book all kids should read!
jennifergorveatt@gmail.com

[conuly]

That's awesome but unnecessary :) Donate a copy to your local school instead.