THE CHICKEN THIEF

All is not what it seems in this sweet, funny wordless picture book about a fox who steals a chicken. When morning breaks, a little multispecies family sits down for breakfast al fresco. A fox leaps from the shrubbery, grabs a white chicken and makes a run for it, while she screams for help. He is pursued by a bear, a rabbit and a rooster through a variety of landscapes and over the course of days and nights. The chicken’s friends never cease in their dogged pursuit, but sharp-eyed readers will notice a change: The fox cradles the chicken tenderly; in one nighttime hideaway they play a friendly game of chess. By the time bear, rabbit and rooster finally catch up to them, the chicken’s feelings have undergone a sea change—is it Stockholm Syndrome? Regardless, the end puts readers and pursuers 180 degrees from where the story had them starting. Rodriguez’s delicate line-and-watercolor paintings extend over disproportionately wide spreads (it opens to a 6” X 20” panorama), allowing children a wide-angle view of both lovely pastoral scenes and the comical capers taking place within them. (Picture book. 5-8)