THE CHICKEN DANCE

Eleven-year-old Don Schmidt lives on a chicken farm on Horse Island, La. His parents detest chickens, but are forced to keep them due to some peculiar conditions set forth in a relative’s will. Don, who comes to love the chickens, becomes the youngest person to ever win the Horse Island chicken-judging contest and, as a consequence, a local celebrity. As this funny and heartwarming saga about pursuing one’s passions unfolds, a mysterious and darker story is revealed. When he stumbles upon a birth certificate that bears his own birth date and an unfamiliar name, Don begins a quest to find out the truth about himself and his sister Dawn. His parents have told him she died years ago from scarlet fever, a truth that will ultimately help him to understand the tensions and unhappiness that have long been the defining characteristics of his home life. Young readers’ hearts will ache for naïve, vulnerable Don as his parents forget his birthday and ignore his victory at the chicken-judging contest, and swell with pride for him as he extends compassion and generosity in the face of complicated revelations and the difficult choices that follow. (Fiction. 11-14)