Chicken Big Paperback – Picture Book, March 4, 2014

I've had the book for a number of years. I bought it by chance, and it has been read many, many times by different grandchildren . They've all loved it, but it is not a good book to read at bedtime because it makes the little ones giggle too much. Cute and clever, small children love the humor, and so do I!

There are several characters in this book. If you read the story aloud using appropriate voices for each character - the book will reside in the annals of 'best storybook for children.' If you don't bring the characters to life - don't bother getting the book. This is a delightful book for children from toddler to first or second grade, and conveys a story that applies to daily life. Appropriately used, this could also be a great team building book for adults!

The kids and I love this book!! It is so cute and still makes us laugh after all these years!

Good for emerging readers. Young reader says it is emoji worthy. Good for grandparents to read as a bedtime story.

My husband and I heard the author read this book on NPR yesterday. I was so delighted with it that I immediately ordered it for my granddaughters. I may just get a copy for myself. The story is amusing but also has some good lessons to impart -- the best kind of learning experience, in my opinion. The illustrations are as entertaining as the story is, and the chickens are both silly and sympathetic. I can't wait to read it to the girls! A perfect book to read aloud and share, talk about, together.

I couldn't make the tiny text larger as instructed when I opened the book and couldn't figure out how to get the instruction back. Also our 2-year-old expects to make pictures bigger and smaller with his fingers which cannot be done in this book. I plan to return it as the ad said one could do. This is for the Kindle FIRE version. The pictures were great, but I would have liked to be able to make them and the tiny print larger.

Graves' picturebook Chicken Big is a postmodern reimagining of the classic tale of Chicken Little in which the audience's expectations are thwarted at every turn. A chorus of minor characters--comprised of a rooster and three hens whose increasingly diminishing height mirrors their intelligence and rationality--drive the plot, beginning with a conversation on the title page in which they decide what to call the text. The chorus' series of erroneous conclusions as to what exactly the title character is humorously progresses the narrative even as they fail to understand and recognize Chicken Big's significance. Ironically, this tale ends with the chorus' epiphany and subsequent character growth after Chicken Big, the ostensible protagonist, saves the day. Graves' manipulation of visuals supports the text's multiple subversions, employing large hand lettered interjections and a juxtaposition of vignettes and full-bleed page spreads with illustrations too large to be contained to emphasize the characters' relative size and impact. Children will find humorous this tale's near slap-stick hilarity in which the underdog wins the approval of the masses while older readers will appreciate its sophisticated wit and subtle subversions. In fact, Chicken Big would pair nicely with a study of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadas an to introduction to existentialism and theatre of the absurd as well as the power of changing a story's perspective.

All the chickens thought the new chick was something else because he didn't look like they thought he should. He was humongous! Read this book and discover how the story plays out. A delightful book for preschool ages through lower elementary school. My grandson says, "Read this book to a 3 year old through 100 year old!"

I gift this to all the littles in my life ever since I discovered it when my now teen nephews were little. Such a fun story.

My 4 yr old loves the book and asks for it as a good night story. We like the idea that the cover is part of the story. Good choice.

So much fun to read to my students!