Review by Booklist Review
Kellogg's wildly humorous animal illustrations provide full character development for this variant of the familiar tale.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Kellogg applies his antic imagination to an unusual version of dippy Chicken Little's story. Foxy Loxy, disguising himself as a cop, herds Chicken Little and the other birds into a van when they report the falling sky. It's an emergency, wily Reynard declares: ``I'll take you directly to headquarters!'' Foxy drives off to his lair and happily plans poultry feasts to dine on for the next several months. But Kellogg's new actor in the drama, Hippo Hefty, is a policeman and a hero. He arrests Foxy Loxy and the feathered captives go home instead of into an oven as they do in other retellings. Instead of regretting the confusion she has created, Chicken Little plants the ``falling sky'' acorn beside her coop. When it grows into a tall oak, she sits in the shade and tells her grandchildren about her Great Adventure. The full-color pictures of the characters (in jazzy costumes) and locale are packed with excitement.(All ages) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3 Kellogg's revamping of the old, familiar tale is a delight. Foxy Loxy watches in delicious anticipation from his ``Poultry'' wagon as, one by one, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky and other fowl assemble in response to Chicken Little's wail that the sky is falling. As if to remind children how all this hysteria began, the acorn looms large in the foreground of several pictures. Foxy disguises himself as a policeman, changes his van's sign to ``Poul-ice,'' and helpfully loads the barnyard gang in for a trip to headquarters just as Chicken Little recalls the ``wanted for kidnapping poultry'' poster she (and children) have already seen. Too late. Foxy slams the door shut and tosses the acorn heavenward, where it brings down a sky patrol helicopter complete with a hippo pilot who pins down the foxliterally. Chicken Little plants the acorn by her coop and spends her sunset years retelling the story to her grandchildren. Like Tony Ross, whose Puss and Boots (Delacorte, 1981; o.p.) and The Three Little Pigs (Pantheon, 1983) offer slapstick humor, Kellogg inserts visual jokes, puns and silly details which may not carry to the farthest reaches of a story hour. However, older children familiar with the traditional version such as Galdone's Henny Penny (Clarion, 1968) will love this one. Susan Hepler, formerly at Ohio State University, Columbus (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
