I knew my son (age 3) would love this book as soon as I skimmed through it. Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein (Candlewick, 2010) tells of a father rooster who is trying to tell his daughter chicken some traditional fairy tales, but she keeps interrupting to save the character from the wicked witch, the mean old wolf, etc. Since my son has a serious fascination with fairy tales right now (more on that another week), this was just perfect for him.
My son loves it when I retell a familiar story (Goldilocks is his favorite story. Often she visits the house of the three walruses or alligators, etc., in my storytelling.) Besides the fact Interrupting Chicken teaches manners (“Don’t interrupt!”) and fairy tales with more appropriate endings (“Don’t talk to strangers!”), it’s also very funny!
The art varies in the book: the chickens are fully illustrated, the fairy tales are black-and-white line drawings, and whenever the young chicken adds to the story, the illustration is crayon-drawn stick figures. I love that the story’s illustrations match the unique voice of each of the characters (or narration) in this book.
Awarded a Caldecott Honor in 2011.
