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The Trouble With Chickens (2011)

by Doreen Cronin(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0061215325 (ISBN13: 9780061215322)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

HarperCollins

series

J.J. Tully Mystery

review 1: I read this book to my 2nd graders, and now I have a dilemma; do I rate it according to what I thought of it, or what they seemed to think of it? The class liked it, but for me...well, it's a children's story and I didn't find all that much in it to be impressed with. I'm also pretty sure a lot of the jokes went over their heads. But they did seem to like it, so I guess that makes it worth at least three stars.
review 2: This book is a parody of the hard-boiled detective novels of the '40s and '50s, but your young reader doesn't have to know anything about Sam Spade or Mike Hammer to get the jokes or follow the story. I think I got more out of the parody than my ten-year-old son, but he laughed in the right places and knew this wasn't to be taken seriously. It ... morewas a quick read for him, and held his interest throughout. The detective's internal monologues are as clipped and sardonic as if Raymond Chandler or Mickey Spillane had written them, without, of course, being so dark. After all, our hero J.J. is looking for missing chickens, not tracking a cold-blooded killer into the seedy underworld. Some of the chapters felt a little brief, as if Ms. Cronin could have done a bit more with setting or character, but given that brevity is the key to both comedy and crime noir, better too little than too much. The parody works, and in the end, The Trouble with Chickens is a good launch for this series, and a solid first entry into chapter books. less

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