Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken

by Kate DiCamillo, Harry Bliss (Illustrator)

Overview

She longed for adventure.

So she left her home and ventured out into the wide world.

The pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar.

Yet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine . . .

She was brave.

She was fearless.

She was feathered.

She was a chicken.

A not-so-chicken chicken.

Her name?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060755546
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/23/2008
Pages:	56
Sales rank:	77,551
Product dimensions:	10.22(w) x 11.36(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kate DiCamillo is the acclaimed author of many books for young readers, including The Tale of Despereaux, winner of the Newbery Medal; Because of Winn-Dixie, a Newbery Honor Book; and The Tiger Rising, a National Book Award finalist. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

New York Times bestselling artist Harry Bliss is a cartoonist and cover artist for the New Yorker magazine. He is the author and illustrator of Bailey and Luke on the Loose and the illustrator of A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech, Which Would You Rather Be? by William Steig, Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, and Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo. His self-titled single panel gag cartoon Bliss appears in newspapers internationally. He lives in New Hampshire. You can visit him online at harrybliss.com.

Hometown:

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Date of Birth:

March 25, 1964

Place of Birth:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Education:

B.A. in English, University of Florida at Gainesville, 1987

Editorial Reviews

DiCamillo’s brisk, comic narrative crackles with read-aloud savoriness. Bliss creates a thrilling sense of place.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher

Newbery Medalist DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux) joins forces with the formidably talented Bliss (Diary of a Worm) for a series of ripping yarns about a chicken who just can't stay down on the farm. By the time the book reaches its fourth and final chapter (and that word is used more to evoke the book's swashbuckling scale than to indicate a preponderance of text), the indomitable Louise has seen it all and done it all, from escaping pirates on storm-tossed high seas to joining the circus-and she's been envisioned as a tasty dish by just about everyone. Not surprisingly, while Louise relishes her wanderlust, she also experiences Weltschmerz -here's the hen contemplating the circus: "Safe in a clown's wig, hidden beneath his hat, Louise thought of the henhouse and what a quiet, spectacularly lion-free place it was." DiCamillo's brisk, comic narrative crackles with read-aloud savoriness, and her respect for Louise makes the book all the funnier. And where lesser artists might have packed lots of visual nudge-nudges, Bliss creates a thrilling sense of place and puts his wide-eyed heroine front and center. An enlarged format does justice to the details in the art-and to the grand sweep of the storytelling. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

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Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 2

A picture book in four chapters in which a thrill-seeking chicken repeatedly leaves the warm security of her henhouse seeking excitement. She is captured by hungry pirates, survives a sinking ship, joins the circus, narrowly escapes a lion, is caged with other chickens, picks the lock with her beak, and liberates her fellow captives. Back home in her barnyard, Louise enthralls her sister chickens with the story of her grand exploits, until all fall asleep tucked safely in their henhouse, having felt the vicarious frisson of adventure. In the nicely patterned telling, DiCamillo ends each of Louise's escapades with an old hen asking her where she has been. "Oh, here and there," is Louise's casual answer. Each new chapter begins with the bold brooder still eager to embark anew. Bliss's illustrations depict the settings of Louise's capers in vague antique worlds with various backdrops and in various eras. On every spread, Louise's bright white feathers and brilliant red cockscomb will stand out and draw the eyes of young readers. Smart choices in book design allow for an oversize book that suits its larger-than-life heroine, and vertical spreads that capture Louise's circus high-wire walk to maximum visual effect. This is a jolly metaphor for the stages of childhood in which young children long for short-lived independence and exploration always within the reassuring bounds of a secure home and family.-Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT

School Library Journal

Louise is not your ordinary chicken; longing for adventure, she travels across seas, participates in a circus, and has her fortune told. Barbara Rosenblat's commanding narration brings Louise's daring nature fully to light. Drawing out the drama of the hen's close call with pirates, her narrow escape from the jaws of a lion, and a daring jailbreak, Rosenblat inflates Louise's small story to maximum advantage, much to the delight of listeners. Highlighting DiCamillo's wordplay and alliteration ("the pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful"), Rosenblat creates an unlikely but likable (and quite unflappable) heroine who remains unruffled even in the face of great danger. Great illustrations by Harry Bliss in the read-along version add to listeners' enjoyment. J.C.G. 2010 Odyssey Award, 2010 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2010 - AudioFile