No Victor in Barnyard Brawl

Votes for Chicken vs. Cow were tied! Now what?

I have an affinity for both creatures. When I was in middle school my friend Julie and I started a club called C.O.W.S - which stood for Cows of the World Society. Why we did this I have no idea, but we thought it was funny and began making cow trading cards to swap and would give each other cow-themed gifts on birthdays and Christmas. This tradition followed us through high school but died once we parted ways for college--that's when chickens began following me... literally!

Chickens ran free in Hawaii where I attended school and entire flocks followed me home from the bus stop on multiple occasions. I also kept a chick as a pet for a time, but that story has a sad ending. Anyway, I must have developed some sort of extra-chicken sensory perception because I possess the uncanny knack for stumbling upon chicken books. I especially noticed this trend once I started working at Missoula Public Library. I never intentionally set out to read chicken books, they just kept appearing in my book bag as if looking for feed. Weird but true. No use fighting it, I've gone ahead and embraced my chicken essence. Now some of my most favorite stories feature poultry.

Since Joyce shared cow titles on the blog last week I'll go ahead and rep for chicken-kind today.

Caroline's Chicken Choice Awards go to...

Chicken Boy by Frances O'Rourke Dowell
Call # = Y DOWELL (or audio book YCD DOWELL)
I never knew chickens could be so life affirming until I listened to this book!

"Getting through seventh grade isn't easy for anyone, son, but when the first day of school starts out with your granny's arrest, you know you've got real problems. Throw on a five-day suspension (for defending your English teacher's honor), a chicken that lays green eggs, and a family feud that's tearing everyone to pieces, and you're in for one heck of a ride."


Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
Call # = J WILES (audio book JCD WILES)
This book is laugh out loud funny! Don't be deterred from reading it just because it is aimed for kids. All ages will find this touching and humorous.

"Ruby Lavender has fun with her grandmother Miss Eula as they rescue chickens, paint a house pink and run their own secret post office. But what can Ruby do when Eula goes away?"


The Natural History of the Chicken
Call # = DVD 636.5 NATURAL
I enjoyed this bizarre PBS documentary so much I put it on the staff pick shelf at one point.

"A series of unusual stories about chickens. Ranges from a woman who revived a chicken with CPR, a man who raises chickens for his own consumption, a woman who keeps a pet chicken, a group of suburbanites who banded together to stop a neighborhood rooster raiser, a headless rooster, and a man who's life changing experience comes when he sees one of his chickens protect her chicks from a hawk."