Interrupting Chicken

Interrupting Chicken #1

by David Ezra Stein

Awarded a 2011 Caldecott Honor!

A favorite joke inspires this charming tale, in which a little chicken's habit of interrupting bedtime stories is gleefully turned on its head.

It's time for the little red chicken's bedtime story—and a reminder from Papa to try not to interrupt. But the chicken can't help herself! Whether the tale is "Hansel and Gretel" or "Little Red Riding Hood" or even "Chicken Little," she jumps into the story to save its hapless characters from doing some dangerous or silly thing. Now it's the little red chicken's turn to tell a story, but will her yawning papa make it to the end without his own kind of interrupting? Energetically illustrated with glowing colors—and offering humorous story-within-a-story views—this all-too-familiar tale is sure to amuse (and hold the attention of) spirited little chicks.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Animals, Fiction, Storytime, Fairy Tales

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 2010

About the author

David Ezra Stein is an author-illustrator whose previous books include LEAVES, winner of an Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award. He lives in Kew Gardens, New York.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aww, Little Chicken wants to save the characters in her books from their own stupidity!
I sympathize.

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is cute and it reminds me of the nephew. A father is trying to read the little Hen a bedtime story, which is something I do too, and the little Hen keeps interrupting the story because she knows it. Both, the nephew and the niece, but mostly the nephew have this issue. If it’s a good story, they get involved and they have to interrupt the story to ask a question or make a comment. Unless it’s a slow biography story that bores them to sleep, but still, a question will creep up.

The father in this story goes through 3 quick stories and the Hen changes or interrupts all of them. I do find that the nephew is better with new stories because stories he knows, he is fidgety and his attention wanders. It’s better to just read more in the series.

The artwork is nice here. Is it Caldecott worthy? Maybe. I do like it though. Lots of color and textures in the artwork.

The nephew thought the story was funny and he did see himself a little in the story, which made him chuckle. He thought the dad was funny and he enjoyed that the Hen wore down the dad. This was 4 stars for him. The niece thought the story was ok. She did appreciate the Hen trying to warn the character about what was going to happen in the story and changing it. She gave this 3 stars.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 2011 Caldecott Honor book that I read primarily because I saw it on Calista's site, though she gave it only 3 stars, and then confirmed that it would be the kind of title Melki would read (and it is; I look to Melki for the best--oddest, most startling, funniest--titles, when I need that kind of fix.

I like surprising picture books and this kinda was; a chicken Dad (ok, rooster), is trying to get his kid (ok, chicken, though not to say chick) to go to sleep, reading to him book after book which the kid (these are anthropomorphic chickens, hey) interrupts with a solution to the main character's problem and then the reading is over; for instance, in the reading of Hansel and Gretel he screams, "don't go in! She's a witch!). Papa eventually falls asleep when child reads him his own story about putting his father to sleep. Kinda funny, right? With goofy, kinda weird (do these birds look like chickens? really?) brightly colored artwork. Pretty fun, I think especially would be for kids.

[Colby Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. I thought it would be fun to try and do something funny (it never works when I try to be funny) for this revi-Out jumped a little red chicken, and she said, "Get off Goodreads and grade some math papers."

Little red chicken is probably right, but grading/planning math is never as much fun as checking twitter and goodre-Out jumped a little red chicken, and she said, "Dude, you really need to vacuum the floors. Seriously get off the computer."

Wow, not sure if this review is working. Feeling a little bit tir-Out jumped a little red chicken, and she said, "The End."

[Chasity · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids are entertained by this book no matter how many times we read it and I can understand why! Stein has created a clever way to make you love this cute little interrupting chicken and his Papa at bedtime.
Children that get bedtime stories read to them can totally relate to Chicken. I know I’ve been in Papa’s seat a good many times.
And what better stories to be reading than fairy tales! So much fun to think about all of those other stories within and even more fun when they’re interrupted!
I love that little bit of a surprise ending, too. Definitely one of our favorites.

[Debi Cates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Question: What's better than reading a book?

Answer: Babysitting your two granddaughters and the youngest of the two, 7 years old, tells us this story from memory, at bedtime, snuggled three in a big bed.

She's a fun story-teller who often interrupts herself with her own laughter. Which made us laugh, and makes me laugh even now.

[Sarah BT · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute little story, but I had a couple of problems with it. Interrupting Chicken was a Caldecott Honor Book this year so I think I was expecting some amazing artwork. And while the illustrations are good, they didn't really stand out to me and say "yes, this is a Caldecott Honor!" I did like the varying illustrations to alternate between little chicken and her father and the storybooks they're reading. And the author/illusrator does a good job of expressing emotions in Papa chicken's eyes showing how tiring little red chicken is. I think anyone who has had exprience with precocious preschoolers will appreciate that minor detail. I liked the artwork, I just think I was expecting a bit more.

My other problem with the book is probably me just getting on my librarian soapbox. I'm not even sure if the average reader would notice. But when Papa chicken tells a story, little red chicken likes to interupt (hence the name of the book) and tell her own ending to the story. It's pretty funny and cute, yet Papa chicken seems to be very bothered by this. At one point he tells little chicken "don't get so involved." NO! Isn't that what we want kids to do? Get involved with the story and get them excited about books and stories? I mean, one of the goals of ECRR is narrative skills which is all about kids re-tell stories as well as tell their own stories. So maybe I read too much into it, but that part really bugged me. And OK, maybe it can bring on a discussion with kids about how they can write their own stories. But really, Papa chicken needs to head to a library storytime or something!

It's a cute, funny, quirky book and I think parents will have fun reading it with their kids and I know the kids will laugh and think it's hilarious and love it. Maybe I just need to let go of the librarian mindset sometimes when it comes to reading.

[Donalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

When animals appear on a book cover, you can predict a lot about the book. If there's a dog on the cover, get the tissue. If a chicken's on the cover, you know the book is funny. I am not sure why we find chickens so amusing, but Interrupting Chicken will make you laugh and remind you of how funny children can be, too.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I teach Spanish in an elementary school, and what I want to know is how is Interrupting Chicken not a staple in every elementary-class library like The Snowy Day, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Rainbow Fish? Like Chicken, excitable primary-school children can’t help but blurt out! And this book would be such a great lesson!

Interrupting Chicken was a 2011 Caldecott Honor book, true enough, and David Ezra Stein’s illustrations deserved to win. They range from classic for the fairytale book to whimsical for the main story to comically child-like for Chicken’s own story. But Stein’s words are hilarious enough so that adults don’t need to find a child to read to in order to justify checking out his book. I couldn’t stop laughing!

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Red Chicken keeps interrupting his father's bedtime stories by shouting out warnings to the fictional characters. I'm pretty sure this he's the kid who was sitting behind me at the movies a few nights ago.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've met this chicken, I've tried to read to this chicken, and yep it went about the same for me.

[Agnė · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5
I simply loved the story, the illustrations, the COLORS. However, I cannot get over the fact that the chicken that clearly looks like a little rooster is actually a SHE! Sorry, but hens don't have tails like that!

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3* art
3* story

A little young for Squirt, but I had to read it to him because he is the Master Of Interrupting. He thought the chicken was funny, but he didn't get the joke on him at all.

[Tory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book is funnier than it has any right to be, the look the dad chicken gave his daughter after the first time she interrupted had me on the floor

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Interrupting Chicken, the 2011 Caldecott Honor book by David Ezra Stein, a chicken and her Papa sit down to read a series of classic fairy tales before it's time to go sleep. Chicken promises not to interrupt the stories, but then proceeds to do so time and again, unable to help herself. When she finally settles down, Papa reverses the roles by falling asleep and interrupting the last story with his snoring.

When I was reading this, I focused mostly on the art, since that's what won the award, and once I started looking carefully at the illustrations, I realized how truly brilliant they are.

The title page draws us into the story with a spread showing a quiet and empty house, with low lamps burning, and various items left lying around, illustrating how Chicken and Papa must have spent their day. This picture is warm and homey and felt very realistic to me. Especially impressive is the way Stein uses light to indicate that night has fallen, and that the house is dark and quiet.

On the verso side of that first page, there is one full page of gorgeous green wallpaper, followed on the recto side by a field of white with one circle in the center. Inside that circle, Papa helps Chicken into her pajamas. Over the next few pages, the reader is drawn in closer and closer to the bed - the white space surrounding the images slowly disappears with each page turn, until the entire page is filled with color, and it feels like the reader is all tucked in along with Chicken.

From here, we zoom in even further and settle on the pages of the book as Papa starts to read. The pages themselves have lots of neat details, including food particles and other objects left behind in the crevices. Papa begins reading the standard fairy tale texts, but each time, Chicken explodes onto the pages with warnings for the stories' characters. When this happens, the old fashioned looking illustrations within the fairy tales react to Chicken with annoyance, and rearrange themselves on the page to accommodate her outbursts. She keeps promising not to interrupt, but keeps it up anyway as they attempt to read Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood, and Chicken Little. In the end, Chicken ends up writing her own story, with amazingly child-like crayon illustrations, and truly realistic misspellings, such as "Chikn."

In addition to being visually appealing, this book fills the need for more picture books featuring fathers and daughters, and especially fathers reading to their kids. It would make a nice father's day read for families, and maybe even a nice gift for fathers, since the humor here will appeal easily to adults as well as children. David Ezra Stein's other picture books include: Pouch, Leaves, Monster Hug!, The Nice Book, Cowboy Ned and Andy, and Ned's New Friend. His website can be found at davidezra.com.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Red Chicken has trouble hearing a whole bedtime story without interrupting her Papa Chicken right at the good part. When he gives up and allows her to tell the story, guess who ends up interrupting with some snores?
This book would be a fun way to introduce writing concepts for fiction including the importance of conflict and resolution.
The stories her papa uses are familiar to her so Little Red Chicken interrupts at every critical point with her own resolution designed to prevent any stress for the main characters. She jumps in to save Hansel and Gretel from the witch, Little Red Riding Hood from the Wolf and even saves Chicken Little from potential humiliation! You have to love this Little Red Hen and her brave editing of beloved classics. Her poor father though, needs her to calm down for bedtime and finally allows her to tell the story. I loved the last picture of father and daughter happily asleep cheek to cheek. Bedtime stories really work! (No matter who tells them.)
Stein the illustrator does a great job here of switching from the warm bedroom of Little Red Hen to the pages of the fairytales Papa tells her. I loved the juxtaposition of his realistic fairytales with the sudden appearance of the hen saving the day in all her glorious color!
This book has a great humor to it and would be appropriate for kindergarten through fifth graders.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is the story of a little chicken who is so enthusiastic about bedtime stories they hardly lull her to sleep. Her father is happy to read her stories but asks her to please remember not to interrupt and to try to fall asleep. But when familiar stories (Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood and Little Red Hen) are read, the little chicken can't help bursting into the story with a quicker and happier solution to the problems at hand. What will happen when an exasperated and very tired father tries one last resort--having the little chicken read *him* a bedtime story?

This book is getting a lot of buzz right now and is on several best-seller lists. I'm not sure that it's one of my own top books of the year, but it's certainly humorous and holds a lot of charm--especially in the hilarious expressions of the chicken and her father. I think children will enjoy anticipating the chicken's interruptions and parents can relate to the rooster's conundrum: delight that your child is enjoying the reading experience so much, but wishing that she would stop interrupting and go to sleep! ;-p And the last illustration is just perfect!

[Tamar...playing hooky for a few hours today · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big disappointment for me....Maybe if I had heard Peter Falk read the story and watch the fairytale unfold on film, I might have been more gracious. I don't think my grandchildren are going to love this, but I'll give it a try once the Corona virus gets under control

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am I the only one who thinks that Interrupting chicken needs clear and consistent consequences? Lol! Just saying...

[Kit Pang · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chicken should have been a boy!

[Stephanie Calhoun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book to use when teaching students about classroom discussion etiquette.

[Kathryn Dykes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot summary & personal response: Interrupting chicken is a delightful children’s book with playful illustrations, which is simply written but enjoyable for everyone. Little red chicken can't wait to hear bedtime stories from her Papa, but her enthusiasm and excitement interrupt the adventurous tales of Hansel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, & Chicken Little, as the characters find themselves drawing near to trouble. Little red chicken quickly jumps into the stories to save the day, leaving her Papa frustrated and little chicken wide awake. In the end little chicken creates her very own goodnight story for Papa, which is then interrupted by Papa's snoring! Little chicken lovingly tucks her Papa in, snuggles up close, and falls fast asleep.

Literary Merit: This enjoyable picture book reflects and supports insight of human behavior by putting an amusing twist on the exhausting struggle many parents have of putting their kids to bed at night. Many children can relate to the excitement and anticipation that comes along with reading stories, waiting for the thrill of the climax, similar to that of little red chicken. Little red chicken’s personality has similar characteristics to that of a real child, “Oh, Papa. I couldn’t let that little chicken get all upset over an acorn! Please read me one more story, and I promise I’ll fall asleep”, instantly making her likable and heartening. The colorful illustrations and easy to read text makes this book perfect for young children as a good night story or just for a fun read.

Genre: Interrupting Chicken can clearly be defined as a children’s fantasy picture book. The detailed illustrations and use of contrasting colors between the pages draws the reader in. The illustrator carefully designed the pages to show the difference between settings; making it easy to distinguish when little red chicken was being read the fairy-tales of her favorite books and when she was interrupting them. The attention to detail within the pictures makes this book well deserving of the Caldecott Honor. The reader can almost feel the emotions of little red chicken’s enthusiasm and Papa’s frustration through the artwork.

Reader’s Response/Classroom Connections: This book would make the perfect introduction for the first read aloud within a classroom on characteristics of a good audience, suitable for Kindergarten- 2nd grade. After reading Interrupting Chicken, the class as a whole can list qualities they should practice when listening to a story or when others are talking, such as using listening ears, eyes on speaker, do not interrupt, sit quietly, etc. The teacher can record the input from the class on a large anchor chart, which can then be hung for the students to refer to as needed. This helps give the class some general guidelines of what is excepted when the focus should be on the teacher and makes the students feel included in developing the environment of the class.
Another activity that could be incorporated into the classroom is for the students to create a comparison list between Interrupting Chicken and a Respectful Student (themselves). The teacher could provide a simple worksheet with characteristics that an “Interrupting Chicken” would possess, then on the other the students would write down what they think an appropriate response would look like. An example of this may look like: Interrupting Chicken- Yells out an answer while a friend is trying to think about their answer; Respectful Student- Waits until teacher has called on you before speaking. This activity would help reinforce a positive classroom environment, build upon their writing skills, and learn how to compare/contrast.

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was told to be on the look out for this book - from several people. It's bedtime and Papa wants to read little red chicken a story. Papa tries three different stories and each time little red chicken cannot help herself - she must jump right in there and participate in the story, i.e. interrupt. For example, while her poor father is in the middle of reading Little Red Riding Hood, little red chicken must interrupt the story with a big ole "Don't talk to strangers!" aimed right at Little Red Riding Hood. This is an excellent story for sharing aloud or reading together at bedtime. It would be a great addition to a storytime on manners, chickens, or even behavior. But can I talk about the one little, itty, bitty, tiny bit of the story that really bothers me?!?! Please???

Through the entire story little red chicken is referred to using female pronouns. Look at her! She's a rooster! Roosters are boys! Which means, she should be a HE!

Ok, I am a librarian - I do not know a heck of a lot about roosters or chickens, so I thought I would do some research. The three things about little red that bother me are: the big crest, the big wattle, and the long green tail feathers. When you have those three things, you have a rooster. Yes, yes, I know - female red chickens can have a crest and wattle too, though they are typically much smaller and red hens do not have long, green, tail feathers. (see "The Little Red Hen")

I know, there's artistic license and all that stuff, but really, doesn't little red look like a boy rooster? Am I missing some deeper joke? Help!!! I suppose if she was missing one of the nagging elements, it wouldn't bother me so much... maybe. To be honest though, it probably would. Picture books are usually a great teaching tool - but only when they are accurate.

I know that kids are really not going to care. They are going to hear this fun loving story about a father and daughter at bedtime and want to hear it again and again... It really is a fantastic story, and so fun to read aloud, but can't we just be somewhat accurate in the illustrations?!? Please? Thanks for listening to my rant - or totally ignoring it :) Everyone is entitled to their own opinion!


***Edited to add: What was the Caldecott committee thinking?!?

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very fun. A perfect one to try in storytime. I enjoyed the pictures. Lots of possibilities for voices in this. Perfect choice for a PJ storytime because of the going to bed aspect. Fabulous for a lap-read at night or even before a nap.

10/8/14 I had a ton of fun reading this. They seemed to be into it and liked when the chicken interrupted. Adults liked it, too. Because I had a younger crowd, I decided to do a quick summary of each original tale so they could remember how it was supposed to go and why what the chicken would interrupt with later was funny.

6/15/16 I needed another book in R is for... theme. I did it because of Rude. But E. and the kids both got "Rooster" and "read" as well. Yay! I did the same thing with explaining the fairy tale, only with the first two I had the kids help me tell the fairy tale. So they absolutely loved it when he interrupted. Their smiles were priceless on that. The ending seemed a wee bit of a let down for them after all that humor, but it still was a success. And go me without even thinking--a great Father story a few days before Father's Day. Yay! :-)

6/14/17 Closer in R theme. I wanted something that I could be animated with, and some of my other choices weren't it. So I did this and the kids loved it. Especially then end. And still in time for Father's Day. Thank you, me, for writing my previous experiences with the books so I could "last minute" add this to the storytime.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this story hilarious! Despite her many promises, Little Chicken continues to interrupt the story and save the main characters from the doom that awaits them. Stein describes his illustrations as being done in watercolor, water-soluble crayon, china marker, pen, opaque white ink, and tea (he doesn't say what kind). Little Chicken and Papa are painted in full color, the story book pages only have a few colors, except when Little Chicken jumps in to interrupt. The "Hansel and Gretel" story book has bits of candy and popcorn spilling out of it. The "Chicken Little" story has some feathers spilling out. This is a fun story, with lots of details to pore over, and a cute, twist ending.

[Amy Layton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is SO fun and absolutely perfect for a bedtime story.  It's a book within a book--the "inner" book being the one Chicken's father is reading to him, but even the characters within that inner book react whenever Chicken interrupts!  I love the art style and how metafictive it is (I'm always a sucker for metafiction).  It's just so funny and sweet at the end, and it's certainly a great pick for children--especially those who like to interrupt!

Review cross-listed here!

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 2011 Caldecott Award honor book. Papa can never finish reading a story to Chicken, because she keeps interrupting and finishing the story for him. What is he to do? I'm sure there are parents out there with this same problem. This is a good book to teach kids the meaning of "interruption". I didn't care for the artwork much, which is why I gave it 3 instead of 4 stars. We read it to the pre-schoolers in our last storytime, and they loved it. Recommended.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Papa chicken tries to read his daughter a succession of bedtime fairy tales, but the little chicken keeps interrupting to fix the characters' mistakes, give them an immediate happy ending, and drastically shorten the story. Finally Papa asks the little red chicken to tell him a story . . . and he finds it rather soporific.

I liked the story and how engaging it was when read out loud. This is a great time to use your voices. I didn't love the illustrations; they're just not to my taste.

[Mely · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hilarious. I think it makes for a very fun read aloud. Little chicken is a hoot. The author did a great job illustrating the story especially with the illustrated book excerpts. This book literally made me laugh out loud.

[Ms. B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny - I look forward to seeing more books by David Ezra Stein in the future!
A knowledge of Hansel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and Chicken Little will make this even more enjoyable.