Crabby Cratchitt’s constantly clucking hen creates chaos in the barnyard. Fanciful illustrations in watercolor pencils and oil crayon clearly show Crabby’s mounting frustration with a noisy hen whose cackling never ceases. “Here a cluck, there a cluck, sounded like a record stuck.” As her temper frays, her plans for achieving peace and quiet become increasingly more complex always backfiring on Crabby and giving the chicken the freedom to torture her even further. But when a hungry fox threatens the noisy bird, Crabby comes to the rescue in a surprise ending that reveals her true nature. Awkward, rhyming text (continuing rhythm of Old MacDonald) mars an otherwise clever retelling of the traditional song. Despite this flaw, young children will be satisfied with the story’s resolution and the pictures will have them cackling, too. (Picture book. 4-8)
