Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Trouble With Chickens

Review by Tintin, age 8

The Trouble With Chickens: A J.J. Tully Mystery
Author/illustrator: Doreen Cronin/Kevin Cornell
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (March 2011)
Source: NetGalley

The Trouble With Chickens is about two chicks and one chicken and one dog who go on an adventure to find their two missing chicks. Moosh is a chicken that is annoying. She bothers the dog by talking too long. Moosh is very loquacious. J.J. is very taciturn. He used to be a search-and-rescue dog and now he lives on a farm. I like that scary dog at the end because he's silly. I like the adventure they go on. My favorite part is when they tricked Vince. I would recommend this book to kids who like mystery and adventure books.

LitLass's note: As a retired search-and-rescue dog, J.J. Tully longs for another mystery to solve, but not one involving a crazy chicken who runs around "like a chicken without a head." He's approached by Millicent the chicken, also known as Moosh, and reluctantly agrees to help her find her two lost chicks. When his nose leads him to the house, and to inside dog Vince the Funnel, the real adventure begins. The short, humorous chapters (the black-and-white illustrations are fun to look at, too) make this detective book a great read-aloud but also wonderful for both reluctant and not-so-reluctant readers. And Tintin was happy to find out that this is the first in a planned series of J.J. Tully mysteries.

Find it: Amazon (check out the book trailer), IndieBound

To go along with the book, we made our own chicks. We started by dipping cotton balls (with a tweezer) into a cup of water and yellow food coloring:

















And then we glued googly eyes and a folded-up piece of orange pipe cleaner to the head, glued the head to the body, and stuck the whole thing in a cleaned-out egg shell:


















We're linking this up with stART, A Crafty Soiree and Kids Get Crafty.

10 comments:

RedTedArt said...

Oh my! How CUTE CUTE CUTE is your chi chick!? And so simple. LOVE IT!

Maggy
(thank you for linking up to Kids Get Crafty!)

Storied Cities said...

I think my boys would like this book. And such a cute craft.

Anonymous said...

Saying hi from SITS. What a neat idea for a blog. My oldest, now 16, was/is such an avid reader. I probably couldn't have kept up but it is such an important part of who he has become. Despite how techy he is, his favorite classes at school are English - from Macbeth to modern classics, he just eats it up. My daughter is not so book-crazed but is slowly but surely seeing the enjoyment and value of a good read.

This is great!

Unknown said...

What a great activity to do with kids!

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shawnacy said...

AH! i'm so excited to find your blog! so many great ideas! love the word of the week feature.
absolutely a new fan.

Jill said...

I had a little extra time to browse around on SITS this morning and thought I'd drop by. What a CUTE idea for a blog. If I ever find a little spare time, I'd love to write children's books about my animals. Hmm...stroke of inspiration? :)

Have a great Saturday!

SHARM said...

I love the craft very cute and creative to work with... i can't wait to chek the book...

Unknown said...

I love your blog! Stopping by from the carnival and I love your ties from books to great activities for kids!
Kelly

Elle Belles Bows said...

Hello! Stopping by from Red Ted. Love this craft! Too cute!

Kerri

Lindsey said...

Very fun idea! We're running a storytime this summer in the park and "Trouble with Chickens" is on the list. I love the idea of dying the cotton balls!

Lindsey @ GrowingKidsMinistry.com