Booktalks Quick and Simple

	Jones, Kelly. UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER New York : Knopf Books, 2015 IL 3-6 RL 5.3 ISBN: 038575552X (3 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 Sophie Brown’s family has just moved from Los Angeles to the farm they’ve inherited from a great-uncle. Sophie, a Latina, is new to farming, new to being one of the few "brown people" in town (along with her mom and Gregory, the mailman), and definitely new to caring for chickens. The first (cranky) hen that shows up can move objects with only her brain: jam jars, the latch to her henhouse, the entire henhouse.... Other chickens with superpowers appear, along with a neighbor bent on stealing Sophie’s exceptional brood. This quirky, clucky classic is told in letters, quizzes, a chicken-care correspondence course, to-do lists, and more. Short bio of the author: Kelly Jones is a curious person, interested in chickens, magic, farm life, spies, sewing, the odd everyday bits of history, how to make sauerkraut, how to walk goats, superheroes and what makes them so super, recipes to make with a lot of eggs, anything with ghosts (particularly friendly ghosts), how to draw chickens that actually look like chickens, and any story she’s never heard before. It’s a good thing she is not a cat. She’s also a writer. (http://curiosityjones.net) (Vermont DCF Book Award 2017) Booktalk #2 When twelve year old Sophie and her parents move from Los Angeles to a small farm once owned by her great uncle, she she soon discovers that the chickens left on the farm have unusual talents to disappear, lay glass eggs, and even move objects with their minds. When a local farmer tries to steal the chickens, Sophie becomes determined to learn all she can about the chickens so she can protect them. (Oklahoma Children’s Sequoyah 2018) Booktalk #3 Sophie Brown feels out of place when her family moves from Los Angeles to her great-uncle’s farm. Besides adjusting to a rural setting, she also has to contend with the town’s microaggressions when she’s constantly asked if her parents are migrant workers because of her skin color. Things begin to become more exciting for her when the first “unusual” chicken appears, and a sinister neighbor starts trying to steal it. Aided by a mysterious woman named Agnes and another young farmer, Sophie schemes of ways to protect her chickens from the thief. (Garden State Children's Book Awards, 2018)
	SUBJECTS: California -- Fiction. Chickens -- Fiction. Epistolary fiction. Farm life -- California -- Fiction. Letters -- Fiction. Paranormal fiction. Racially mixed people -- Fiction. Supernatural -- Fiction.

Jones, Kelly.
UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER
New York : Knopf Books, 2015
IL 3-6 RL 5.3
ISBN: 038575552X

(3 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

Sophie Brown’s family has just moved from Los Angeles to the farm they’ve inherited from a great-uncle. Sophie, a Latina, is new to farming, new to being one of the few "brown people" in town (along with her mom and Gregory, the mailman), and definitely new to caring for chickens. The first (cranky) hen that shows up can move objects with only her brain: jam jars, the latch to her henhouse, the entire henhouse.... Other chickens with superpowers appear, along with a neighbor bent on stealing Sophie’s exceptional brood. This quirky, clucky classic is told in letters, quizzes, a chicken-care correspondence course, to-do lists, and more. Short bio of the author: Kelly Jones is a curious person, interested in chickens, magic, farm life, spies, sewing, the odd everyday bits of history, how to make sauerkraut, how to walk goats, superheroes and what makes them so super, recipes to make with a lot of eggs, anything with ghosts (particularly friendly ghosts), how to draw chickens that actually look like chickens, and any story she’s never heard before. It’s a good thing she is not a cat. She’s also a writer. (http://curiosityjones.net) (Vermont DCF Book Award 2017)

Booktalk #2

When twelve year old Sophie and her parents move from Los Angeles to a small farm once owned by her great uncle, she she soon discovers that the chickens left on the farm have unusual talents to disappear, lay glass eggs, and even move objects with their minds. When a local farmer tries to steal the chickens, Sophie becomes determined to learn all she can about the chickens so she can protect them. (Oklahoma Children’s Sequoyah 2018)

Booktalk #3

Sophie Brown feels out of place when her family moves from Los Angeles to her great-uncle’s farm. Besides adjusting to a rural setting, she also has to contend with the town’s microaggressions when she’s constantly asked if her parents are migrant workers because of her skin color. Things begin to become more exciting for her when the first “unusual” chicken appears, and a sinister neighbor starts trying to steal it. Aided by a mysterious woman named Agnes and another young farmer, Sophie schemes of ways to protect her chickens from the thief. (Garden State Children's Book Awards, 2018)

SUBJECTS:     California -- Fiction.
                        Chickens -- Fiction.
                        Epistolary fiction.
                        Farm life -- California -- Fiction.
                        Letters -- Fiction.
                        Paranormal fiction.
                        Racially mixed people -- Fiction.
                        Supernatural -- Fiction.