STARLIGHT GOES TO TOWN

Allard resurfaces after 17 years with a surreal tale of a chicken who dreams of becoming a high-fashion model but ends up taking what she can get. The other hens mock her pretensions, but when a fairy godmother offers to grant her wishes, Starlight LaPoule (original name: Ethel Fae Klucksworth) immediately lays a flashy convertible and roars off toward the runways of Milan. Unfortunately, she’s dissed there too and worse yet, upon her return to the States, a change in fairy-godmother personnel leaves her able to lay only appliances and other bric-a-brac. As the odd non-conclusion has it, Starlight, more irritated than daunted, proceeds to open up an ongoing flea market. Booth illustrates this postmodern alternative to Oh, the Places You’ll Go! with his usual array of comically scowling characters and rapidly sketched clutter. Consider it a poke at the flock of more optimistic tales of barnyard dreams, like Robert Kinerk’s Clorinda (2003), illustrated by Steven Kellogg, or Mary Jane and Herm Auch’s Beauty and the Beaks (2007). (Picture book. 6-8, adult)