To the Stars and Beyond: My Virtual Bookshelf

Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Illustrator: Harry Bliss

Published: In 2008 by HarperCollins

ISBN: 978-0060755546

Synopsis:

Louise the Chicken longs for adventure. She wants to explore the world beyond the uneventful farm where she lives. So one day, she decides to leave the henhouse in search of them. As she travels she finds herself in a number of dangerous situations --she barely escapes the clutches of some nasty pirates, is almost swallowed by a tiger and even finds herself trapped, in a Chicken Prison. At the end of all her marvelous adventures, Louise begins to realize that, although adventure is fun for awhile where she'd really rather be is with her friends in their warm, dry chicken coop on the farm. Join Louise through each chapter of her journey in this delightfully illustrated Odyssey Award wining story.

*Note the Odyssey Award is for an Excellence in Audiobook Production

My Reaction:

Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken is quite an epic and hilarious story --something I quite unexpected. Maybe it is because Louise is a chicken. Maybe it is because Louise is not only a chicken, but also a chicken with guts. I think there is something amusing and inspiring about stories of animals with ambitious dreams. Whatever the case, this is definitely an entertaining story.

The only difficulty I had with it was the fact that, as a reader, I never had the chance to see any of Louise's travels. She would suddenly decide to go on an adventure and there she would be on the deck of a ship or in the middle of a circus. I think this jump from place to place made it harder for me to accept Louise's stories. What I really wanted to know was, "How in the world did that chicken get there?!" This question was particularly salient when she makes it all the way "to a land far away, where she discovered a fabulous bazaar." I felt like I didn't have enough information to truly believe she had traveled that far. Furthermore, because the actual locations were always ambiguous you never knew where she was to begin with. The only clues you got were in the illustrations on Louise's way home from each adventure. I really wish the author, or illustrator had provided that same traveling context at the beginning of the story as they did at the end.

However, despite this fact, I love how the story is told in a series of four installments or chapters because it sets each of her adventures apart from one another. It also allowed me a glimpse at Louise's traveling because she always returns home at the end of each chapter. Breaking up the book in to separate episodes makes Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken a wonderful introduction to the concept of chapter books. Furthermore, the chapters are ideal stopping points in the book, making it a perfect bedtime story book.