A little dark humor can be fun, and my bigger kids cracked up over this story about a chicken that gets hit by a truck crossing the road and heads to the "other side" as a ghost.

How is this a children's book? I feel like this is nightmare fuel. The words and images chosen worked will and the illustrations were well done, but sort of terrifying. ( )

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

When a chicken crosses the road to get to the other side, and is struck by an eighteen-wheeler, he finds that he's arrived at the OTHER SIDE instead. Now a ghost, surrounded by other animal ghosts, he is told that his duty as a Poultrygeist is to scare and haunt. But our galline hero has no interest in such activities...

Long-time children's book editor Eric Geron makes his own picture-book debut with Poultrygeist, a darkly humorous take on that old joke about the chicken crossing the road to get to the other side. The story is told entirely through dialogue (some of it directed to the reader/listener) and image, making it a good read-aloud selection, I think. The digital artwork from Pete Oswald is lots of fun, with almost all of the scenes dominated by dark black pages, and colorful animal ghosts which pop off those pages. I can see this one being a little traumatic for some youngsters, and hilarious for others, so the adult involved, whether parents or teacher, should bear this in mind. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for stories with a dark sense of humor, and a meta-fictional bent. ( )