About the Holiday

Have you had enough of all the extra goings on this month? Do you just hanker after a nice long respite where you can think your own thoughts? Or do you want to get organized at home or at the office for the new year? Then today is for you! So close the door or put in your earbuds and take some quiet time for yourself!

Interrupting Chicken

By David Ezra Stein

It’s time for a certain little red chicken to go to sleep, and Papa is about to nestle his chick into bed when the subject of a bedtime story comes up. Papa agrees to read one of his daughter’s favorites—after being reassured that she won’t interrupt the story tonight. “‘Oh no, Papa. I’ll be good,’” she says.

So Papa opens Hansel and Gretel and begins to read. He’s related that Hansel and Gretel were very hungry, that while out in the woods they found a house made of candy, and that they had begun to nibble away on the house when the old woman who lived there invited the children in. “They were just about to follow her when—,” Papa continued. But his little chicken can’t help herself and says: “Out jumped a little red chicken, and she said, ‘DON’T GO IN! SHE’S A WITCH!’ So Hansel and Gretel didn’t. THE END!”

Image copyright David Ezra Stein, courtesy of Candlewick Press

Papa peers over the top of his story book, and he and his daughter give each other a long look. “‘Chicken.’” Papa says. “‘Yes, Papa?’” his daughter asks innocently. “‘You interrupted the story. Try not to get so involved.’” Papa tells her. “‘I’m sorry, Papa. But she really was a witch.’” Papa understands, but he also tells little chicken that she should relax and try to fall asleep. His daughter agrees to be good if he reads another story.

Papa turns the page to Little Red Riding Hood. He reads about how Little Red Riding Hood’s mother gave her a basket of goodies to take to Grandma and warns her about the dangers in the woods. “By and by she met a wolf who wished her ‘Good Morning.’ She was about to answer when—”…the little avid reader can’t help herself again! “Out jumped a little red chicken, and she said, ‘DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS!’ So little Red Riding Hood didn’t. THE END!”

Papa puts the story book down and gazes into his daughter’s wide-awake eyes. She apologizes for interrupting a second time and suggests “one more little story” and promises to behave. Papa picks a most appropriate story for the third go-around: Chicken Little. He starts off with the unfortunate event when Chicken Little is hit on the head by an acorn and mistakenly thinks that the sky is falling. “She was about to run off and warn Goosey Loosey, Ducky Lucky, Henny Penny, and everyone on the farm the sky was falling when—”…the little chicken loses control yet again. “Out jumped the little red chicken, and SHE said, ‘DON’T PANIC! IT WAS ONLY AN ACORN.’ So Chicken Little didn’t. THE END!”

Image copyright David Ezra Stein, courtesy of Candlewick Press

Papa is now flat out tired and—even though his little chick hugs him and vows that with only one more story she’ll fall asleep—is out of stories. Little chicken exclaims, “‘Oh no, Papa. I can’t go to sleep without a story!’” Yawning, Papa suggests that his daughter tell him a story. She grabs her notebook and crayons and begins. “Bedtime for Papa by CHiKn Once there was a little red chicken who put her Papa to bed. She read him a hundred stories. She even gave him warm milk, but nothing worked: he stayed wide awake all—”

Suddenly, the sounds of snoring interrupt her storytelling. She looks up from her page to find her father fast asleep in her bed. She pats him on the head “‘Good night, Papa.’” she whispers before finally falling asleep herself.

David Ezra Stein’s Caldecott Honor book is a hilarious look at the nightly bedtime story scene in so many households. One story just isn’t enough, and familiar stories just beg to be finished by excited little voices. The father/daughter relationship in Interrupting Chicken is sweet and endearing, as the day-weary dad reads story after story and his daughter chimes in. Many a parent or caregiver has gazed at their little charge in just the way Papa does, and received the same knowingly innocent eyes back.

Kids will fall in love with Stein’s adorable little chicken and her patient Papa. The stories Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Chicken Little are cleverly depicted in vintage black, brown, and white hues that are brilliantly interrupted by the little chicken and her well-timed warnings.  Even the characters of these classic tales react to being so “rudely interrupted” and are left with dubious expressions as our little heroine saves the day.

Animated readings (there’s no way you’ll get away with just one!) will make Interrupting Chicken one of the favorite books on your child’s bookshelf.

Ages 4 – 8

Candlewick Press, 2010 | ISBN 978-0763641689

Don’t’ interrupt this funny book trailer!

 No Interruptions Day Activity

Good Manners Matter! Word Search

No interruptions means good manners which means those around you will smile! Find the 20 manners-related word in this printable Good Manners Matter! smiley-faced-shaped puzzle! Here’s the Solution!

Picture Book Review