Poultrygeist
by Eric Geron (Author) Pete Oswald (Illustrator)
From a debut picture-book author and a #1 New York Times best-selling illustrator, a wry take on "Why did the chicken cross the road?" that gives a whole new meaning to "the Other Side." Cock-a-doodle-BOO! It's punny. It's spooky. It's a meta picture book that puts a fresh spin on an old joke and elevates chicken comedy to ghastly new levels.
A little spring chicken crosses the road but quickly gets flattened under a semitruck. The barnyard beasts who've gone before break the news: now that Chicken's fried--dispatched to the Other Side--Chicken has a job, an unwanted job, as a noisy troublemaking ghost. This fowl may be weak in the beak, but Chicken knows that scaring people isn't nice. There is such a thing as a friendly ghost, after all--isn't there?
Loaded with laughs and shivers, this Halloween-ready treat features ghoulishly funny art by the illustrator of the #1 New York Times best-selling Bad Seed series. Let the haunting begin! No chickens were harmed in the making of this book.
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Publishers Weekly
When a chicken gets hit by a truck while crossing the road, it ends up on a very different "other side" than intended. Told by a passel of roadkill-turned-ghosts that its new job is to scare people ("It’s cock-a-doodle-BOO! Time for you!" declares a ghost raccoon), the mild-mannered chicken meta-demurs. "But I don’t want to haunt anyone, especially not innocent readers who are just trying to enjoy a nice story about an unlucky chicken," it says, adding sotto voce in an audience aside, "Pssst! Are you OK?" Fed up with being bossed around, the chicken loses its temper-and, while insisting that it’s not scary, frightens its ghostly comrades. An amusing concept and attendant wordplay ("Show a little pluck, Cluck!") by debut author Geron gets a big assist from Oswald’s marvelous digital illustrations: intricate, iridescent textures; fluorescent colors; and lots of comic exaggeration evoke a spectral world that’s also reassuringly silly. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 2021 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 2-Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side, of course. But what happens when the chicken is suddenly mowed down by a semitrailer truck and wakes up "on the other side"? Geron's debut picture book delivers a fresh take on the classic joke. Puns and ghostly humor will have readers laughing as the chicken awakens to a new reality that takes a turn for the worse when our hero is approached by a pack of ghouls, veterans on the other side, waiting with a spooky assignment. "Your goal, now that you're a ghoul, is to turn someone's sunny side up...into sunny side down." Chicken doesn't want to haunt others, but preschoolers will love the mayhem that ensues when the protagonist accidentally scares away the pack. The dark palette and exaggerated illustrations are clever and ghoulish, and young readers will be fascinated by the intricate details of each sketch. VERDICT An ideal Halloween read-aloud and great for children with an appreciation for the macabre.
Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
JUV017030 - Juvenile Fiction | Holidays & Celebrations | Halloween
JUV069000 - Juvenile Fiction | Ghost Stories
