Prairie Chicken Little
Mary McBlicken, a prairie chicken, is scratching the ground in search of her breakfast when she hears “a rumbling and a grumbling and a tumbling.” Wild-eyed with terror, Mary runs toward the ranch to warn Cowboy Stan and Red Dog Dan of a stampede. Along the way, she meets Jeffrey Snog, the prairie dog; Beau Grabbit, the jack rabbit; and June Spark, the meadow lark, who all decide to join her. When they encounter Slim Brody the sly coyote, he shows them a “shortcut” to the ranch. The wily coyote’s plot is foiled, and the story ends with a good laugh. From the bluebonnets blooming on the title page to the Tex-Mex picnic supper at the story’s end, the illustrations give this Chicken-Little makeover a regional look to match the twang of the text. The exaggerated faces and movements of the panicky characters stand out comically against the more realistic background paintings. Hopkins, a storyteller from Texas, uses repeated phrases, internal rhymes, and humor effectively, creating a transplanted folktale that reads well aloud. Preschool-Grade 2. --Carolyn Phelan