CHICKEN AT THE WINDOW

by Karen Ann Weinhaus ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 25, 1981

Two silly, tangled, parallel plot-lines are probably one too many for any single, quite-young picture book; but when the two are also unoriginal, and don't come together with any snap, the book is just not worth the trouble it takes. Plot-line # 1 concerns a Zemach-ish couple, Papa and Mama Dunbee: he goes off to town to buy her a new mop, agrees to also fetch neighbor Farmer Basil a bag of flour, starts thinking of her raspberry pie (flour = pie), goes home sans mop or flour. . . to find her indeed baking raspberry pie. Meanwhile, per plot-line #2, Farmer Basil's animals are trying to call to the sun to come out from behind a hill; and for reasons too complicated to explain, congregate around the Dunbees' house, set up a hullabaloo, loose the chickens (thus, ""chicken at the window""), and disperse. . . whereupon Mama and Papa Dunbee get to eat that pie. And, when the sun comes out the next morning, the various animals (""We did it, Mr. Donkey,"" says Samantha the goose) are content too. An overload of foolishness and just not much fun.

Pub Date: March 25, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1981

Categories: CHILDREN'S