by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 27, 2010   Last Updated: January 20, 2012

Henrietta is a chicken who loves reading. (She's a chicken after my own heart.) She takes coffee breaks just to read the farmer's newspapers, or reclines cross-legged with a book in her nest. And she even wears a pair of big black reading glasses.

But this book has an edgy tone - in part because of its bizarre drawings. There's a collage feeling to the stark patterns that make up the chickens' bodies and the farmer's clothes. There's photographs of real soup on the labels on a stack of cans. And the chickens' clothes include odd human fabrics - and even sandals - as the farmer escorts them away for their vacation.

Er, "vacation"? The farmer promises the chickens can just "simmer down" and "noodle away" their time. There's more soup-related puns, while the lucky "vacationing" chickens tease poor Henrietta before they leave. ("Now aren't you sorry you didn't work harder?" clucks Aunt Emily.) But the truck that drives them away is labelled "Souper Soup company"...

Henrietta never morphs into a superhero - but her reading skills do save the day. She reads the label on a can of soup, and determines where the other chickens were taken. She reads a map to plot the best route, then hitches a ride on a truck. And Henrietta realizes its passengers are in trouble too - since they're pigs, and their "vacation" is being provided by the Saucy Sausage Company.

She warns them to make an escape at the next exit, and then provides the pigs with some useful advice. "Please learn to read so you don't get tricked again." Then she switches to another truck, and asks "Going on vacation?" The cows inside agree - though the truck belongs to the Happy Hamburger Company. She tells them to make a break at the next rest stop. "And please learn to read! Reading can save your lives!"

The book is written and illustrated by a husband-and-wife team - Mary Jane and Herm Auch - and they've written several other exciting stories involving chickens. (There's "Hen Lake" "Peeping Beauty," and "The Bantam of the Opera.") But they seem to be sending a message in this book, since the chickens eventually escape the soup factory - and then look for a vegetarian farmer! They eventually discover a smiling redheaded woman (in a long dress with a complicated pattern).

"She told Henrietta that she didn't eat beef, but she kept cows for milk... And best of all, she didn't eat chicken, but she liked to have eggs for breakfast and an occasional quiche."

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