Beauty and the Beaks: A Turkey's Cautionary Tale
Grade 2–4—Wonderfully creative handmade characters and sets are the highlight of this over-the-top chicken tale about a beauty shop, a vain Tom turkey, and Thanksgiving Day dinner. One day, a self-important turkey enters The Chic Hen and announces that he's been invited to a special dinner. When Beauty, the owner of the shop, discovers that he is not invited for dinner but as dinner, she and the other hens strategize to save the frantic fowl. Their best and final plan, to put him in a dress and save him from the oven, works well. Every word that begins with the letters "ex" (and there are many of them) are re-spelled to fit the theme: "eggsercise," "eggsploring," "eggstensive," etc. The book is filled with puns that will be understood by older children and adults. In one instance, a beauty shop customer is readingMiss Coop Livingmagazine and the two feature articles are "Feathering Your First Nest" and "Living on the Other Side of the Road." The illustrations are well worth poring over. The author made chicken mannequins with polymer eyes, beaks, and shoes, as well as wool wings and yarn feathers. Her husband designed the sets, built them, and photographed the images, adjusting their size. A humorous story about dressing a turkey, but not in the usual manner.—Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theSchool & Library Bindingedition.