Auch, M. J. (1993). Peeping Beauty. New York: Holiday House.

Poulette is a hen who dreams of becoming a ballerina. She dances around the hen house, day and night. One day a clever fox comes to offer her a chance at stardom. The other hens caution Poulette. They are sure the fox has only ill intentions, but the draw is too strong for Poulette, and she agrees to perform the ballet Sleeping Beauty with the fox. During the finale of the ballet, the fox reveals his true intentions; he’s going to eat Poulette. She is too quick for him. Her years of dance training has given her strong, tough legs, so she kicked herself to freedom. She and the other hens capture the fox and discuss eating him themselves. The fox protests that he should not be eaten and swears to never eat another animal ever again. This book is suitable for children ages 3-7 years. ( )

I did not like this book for three main reasons. First, I did not like how difficult many of the words were too pronounce throughout this story. If I had some challenging time with the vocabulary throughout the book, then I can only imagine how tough of a time it would be for an elementary aged student to be able to read this book. For example, the author used challenging words, such as “Poulette, Gertrude, Claudine, Zelda, Applaud, and Jete” along with many other difficult names and vocabulary words. Second, I did not like how the pictures were illustrated. It was sometimes difficult to tell what was going on throughout the illustrations, some of the colors just blurred together. For example, the flowers did not really look like flowers, they just looked like circles on a vine. Third, I did not like how the story had violent parts in the story, like the fox trying to eat the hen with his sharp teeth. I just personally do not think that this book was very kid friendly. The big idea of this story was although you want to eat a hen, the hen can also eat a fox. Everyone’s roles can be reversed. Therefore, do not do something to someone that you would not want to be done too you, like a fox eat a hen because you know that the fox would have never want to be eaten by a hen. ( )

Poulette is a hen that has a dream to be a dancer. A fox disguises himself as a talent scout from New York City and against her friends' advice, she goes to live out her dream. In a scence from Sleeping Beauty, as the fox tries to eat Poulette instead of kiss her as the prince would, she uses her strong muscles annd dancing skills to out fox the fox. ( )

Age Appropriateness: Primary
Genre: Fantasy
Review: This is a great fantasy story about a chicken who really wants to dance ballet. She ends up trusting a fox who just wants to eat her, but saves herself by dancing out of it. This is a fantasy because animals don't scheme or dance ballet. ( )

a fun take off on sleeping beauty with chickens as the main characters.