The chicken house

PreS-Gr 1--In "The Chicken Squad" series for beginning readers, an A-frame, or "triangle house," is home for a chicken family, including Sugar, whose bookish sister Dirt likes to sit by the window to read. There are many of them, and the triangle house is crowded. The dog, J.J., lives in a square house, which Sugar likes better because it has a bathtub (the dog's dish) and a massage table (the rubber bone). But it's boring to visit it alone, so Sugar invites her siblings along. Mother chicken Moosh, facing an empty home, enlists the dog to help find her family. While J.J. is not down with the feathers in his water bowl, he does like the new drawings the chicks have made on his wall. The use of repetition in this book gives it a flowing, reinforcing cadence, and the illustrations are delightful--every chick has personality that hooks new readers into their activities. J.J. the dog, though, seems genuinely concerned about the new residents--will new art be enough? VERDICT This is more of a shaggy chicken tale than a solid story with a beginning, middle, and end, but it will keep readers involved.--Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal