Jacques Couvillon

The Chicken Dance explores some pretty heavy topics such as abandonment, coming of age, self discovery, teen pregnancy and difficult family dynamics. Don is a kid who is trying to navigate school and feels unliked. He starts hanging out with the chickens in the yard and also begins learning about them. Don signs up for a contest in chicken judging and finds out that he has a natural aptitude for it and excels. The people around town recognize him for it and he gains self esteem. He also learns things about his family that lead him in search of more information about his mother. He learns about acceptance of himsef and those around him. He also has a life changing point where he goes from being taken care of to care taker in a sense. This book has a lot of adult topics woven into a children's story. It was at times hard to read because Don's life seemed so sad, but it migh give kids something to relate to that is a little different from other children's books. Not everyone has a white picket fence and loving parents, books like this are good for kids who might feel stigmatized by the fact that their families do not match the ones they see in other books written for their age group.

The book was in an appropriate size for the reader and while the topics are useful, it might be hard for a sensitive reader to get through.… (mehr)