Interrupting Chicken

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 show more laughing! show less

It's time for a story before bed, but interrupting chicken cannot help but get a word in edgewise with every story Papa tells. She wants to warn Hansel and Gretel about the candy house in the wood, tell Chicken Little not to worry about the sky falling, and so forth. Papa finally gives up and asks her to tell the story. She starts to, and Papa promptly falls asleep.

I really loved the concept of this book. It's fast-paced and witty, relying heavily on the dialogue between Papa and his daughter. It's like a comedy duo routine in which Papa is the straight man who sets up the joke by asking his daughter if she's going to interrupt the story or not; she always says no but then can't help herself once the story starts.

It's a very cleverly show more done story with great illustrations to boot, but I'm not sure if this one of those books that ends up being funnier to the adults in the audience (who can likely related with the exhausted Papa). Nevertheless, my niece wanted me to read this book to her over and over again so I guess it's popular enough with the little ones! show less

Yes! The integration of this story with its illustrations are so cool! It is a Caldecott Honorable Mention winner written and illustrated by Stein. This story line would be pretty average without the illustrations. Little chicken is having his father read him bedtime stories and we go through several bedtime story inceptions where Chicken inserts herself into the story and is added to the illustrations of that story. Not only is this super clever but the paintings and drawings that stein does for each interwoven story are so beautiful and show his elasticity in his art. The sketched text and drawings that Chicken make for when she reads her own story to her father remind me of Mouserella's illustrations where they are an imitations of show more children's drawings and writings. Overall a really entertaining bedtime read. I actually remember when this book came out and children began screaming "interrupting chicken!" while their parents would be conversing. show less

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 Grettel 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.A favorite joke inspires this charming tale, in which a little chicken’s show more habit of interrupting bedtime stories is gleefully turned on its head.Awarded a 2011 Caldecott Honor! show less

"It was bedtime for the little red chicken." Of course, bedtime requires a bedtime story...but the little chicken just can't resist jumping into the stories and interrupting! Finally, Papa tells her he's all out of stories - so little chicken will have to make up her own!
This is a fun, funny story. The sections of classic fairy tales which little chicken interrupts are drawn in what looks like a parody of Galdone's classic versions and little chicken's wild and unexpected interruptions will bring down the house every time you pull this out at storytime. A fun concept, beautifully executed throughout this unique bedtime story.

Verdict: Highly recommended. Use it to introduce children to classic fairy tales, as an anti-bedtime story, to show more encourage them to make up their own stories, and just for fun! show less

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra follows a young red chicken and her father trying to put each other to sleep with a bedtime story. While the father chicken tries to tell the stories, the baby chicken interrupts. This is an excellent book for early readers, with great illustrations and fonts. An easy pick for a 2nd-3rd grade classroom.

This was another cute book. Chicken needs to go to bed, but she keeps interrupting her father's bedtime stories instead of being lulled to sleep by them. The words were entertaining, for they took well-known stories and broke them up with Chicken's silly, briefly summarized endings. The drawings of Chicken in each of the stories she was being read were so different--one of them definitely did not belong. Their contrast aided the point of the book, for I could definitely see a five-year-old laughing at Chicken saying that she came into the story of Hansel and Gretel and ate the witch's candy house.