cover image Chicken Little

Chicken Little

Steven Kellogg. William Morrow & Company, $16 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-688-05690-2

Kellogg applies his antic imagination to an unusual version of dippy Chicken Little's story. Foxy Loxy, disguising himself as a cop, herds Chicken Little and the other birds into a van when they report the falling sky. It's an emergency, wily Reynard declares: ""I'll take you directly to headquarters!'' Foxy drives off to his lair and happily plans poultry feasts to dine on for the next several months. But Kellogg's new actor in the drama, Hippo Hefty, is a policeman and a hero. He arrests Foxy Loxy and the feathered captives go home instead of into an oven as they do in other retellings. Instead of regretting the confusion she has created, Chicken Little plants the ``falling sky'' acorn beside her coop. When it grows into a tall oak, she sits in the shade and tells her grandchildren about her Great Adventure. The full-color pictures of the characters (in jazzy costumes) and locale are packed with excitement.(All ages)