Chicken Joy on Redbean Road by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, pictures by Melissa Sweet.

This book is pure fun, especially when read aloud.  In fact, if you try to read it silently, I bet you will read aloud just to feel the words dance on your tongue. 

This is the story of a blue-headed rooster who crows the farm awake every morning.  He also crows along with the music of Joe Beebee which sometimes comes floating down the road.  But when the rooster gets the chicken measles, he loses his crow.  Mrs. Miser Vidrine, who owns the farm, sees a rooster without a crow as useless and starts to think about stewing him for dinner.  But a brave chicken, Miss Cleoma, works up a plan with the rest of the flock to get the roo’s crow back. 

Music is used in the story not only as a central theme and a road to salvation, but also in the texture and tone of the writing where rhythm and repetition work together to make the entire book shimmy.  Some of the writing is especially lovely, like this description of what happens when the rooster crows: 

“That call made the skies pinker, the corn crunchier, and the morning glories more glorious.” 

Whew!  What a sentence!

Add this one to your stack of great read alouds that can be pulled out at any time.  It will work well for chicken, farm and music themes.