Central Kansas Library System

A hard-bitten former search-and-rescue dog helps solve a complicated missing chicken case.

Everyone in Goshen Falls knows about weird Vanessa. She dresses all in black and wears black lipstick. People say she puts spells on people. Crystal and her brother Cole made Vanessa mad. After she whispered that strange warning, "Chicken chicken" something weird has happened. Crystal's lips have turned as hard as a bird's beak, and Cole has started growing ugly white feathers all over his body.

Chicken's cow visitors try to jump, dance, and wiggle on this couch, which is much too tiny for such exuberant activities.

When the squirrel Tail comes barreling into the chicken coop ranting about a round, shiny, green, big, scary thing in the yard, Dirt, Sweetie, Poppy, and Sugar investigate this strange object.

"Help! Help! I stepped in poo! My feet are stuck, and they can't move! Help me! Help me to get loose -- I don't want to drown in poo!" Gertrude was born on a farm in the middle of nowhere with eleven other little chicks. From kicking her way out of her shell to running sideways, there is nothing "normal" about Gertrude! Join her as she makes life exciting, not only for the rest of the chickens, but for the other animals on Happy Hearts' Farm as well....

Earl and Pearl do not want Chicken's help in the garden, until a swarm of grasshoppers arrives and her true talent shines.

"Introducing Starla Jean! She's full of moxie, clever as a fox, and obsessed with catching a chicken she finds at the park. When Starla first sees the scrawny bird wandering around, she just knows they're destined for one another. Her dad says, 'If you can catch it, you can keep it,' and Starla Jean is not one to back down from a challenge"--Macmillan.com.