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Elizabeth Rose Stanton began her picture book writing and illustrating adventure a few years ago, after a brief career as an architect, and long career as a parent and fine artist. Her debut book, Henny, was awarded an American Library Association Booklist star and was named as one of the best books of 2014 for children by The New York Public Library. School Library Journal called her second book, Peddles, "quietly wonderful," and the illustrations, "a thing of beauty." Elizabeth grew up in New York and now lives in Seattle with her husband and a trio of Scottish Fold cats.
Readers will do a double take at the confident chicken who waves
hello from the cover of Stanton's debut. Instead of feathery wings,
Henny has skinny pink human arms and hands. Although "Henny's
mother... loved Henny anyway," the other farm animals stare and
even chortle. Henny frets, albeit in non-chickenish ways: "She
worried about being right-handed or left-handed.... She even
worried about things she didn't quite understand-like tennis elbow,
and hangnails, and whether she might need deodorant." Henny
eventually discovers a talent for farm chores and starts "to
imagine all the other things she could do," from hailing a cab to
flying (a plane). In gentle pencil-and-watercolor sketches on an
eggshell-white ground, Stanton scatters moments of quiet humor like
chicken feed-Henny tries to "fit in" with a common chicken pose,
folding her arms back like wings, and she bends those same elbows
when she covers her ears to dampen a rooster's crow... Stanton's
artwork marks her as a talent worth watching. (Jan.) * Publishers
Weekly *
This Henny is no regular sky-is-falling chick. She has arms! (A
helpful chart compares a normal chick with Henny: wattles, yes;
combs, yes; wings, uh, no.) Henny has mixed feelings about her
arms. They can flutter-but they can also drag. Should she be
left-handed? Or right-handed? Should she use deodorant? All
ambivalence disappears, however, when Henny gets a taste of working
on the farm. Milking cows and feeding chicks empowers her, and she
begins to consider all the other things she might be able to do,
including picking up her grain with chopsticks and combing her
comb. Ultimately, all these possibilities lead to-maybe-a career as
a pilot. The plot is thin, but the premise is clever, and the
execution is hysterical. In part, this comes from Stanton's expert
depiction of Henny as fair, round, bemused, and rather feminine
(except for those long hairy arms). And in part it comes from the
clever, unlikely scenarios in which she places her heroine. The
matter-of-fact tone of the text elevates the weirdness of the
juxtapositions. For those who want a little more meat on their
drumstick, this does have a good message about making the best of
one's circumstances and looking on the bright side. But mostly,
it's just funny. - Ilene Cooper * Booklist, Starred Review *
"Henny is easily one of my top ten favorite kids books. It's so
quirky and clever and warm. And it cracks my kids up every time." -
Drew Daywalt, New York Times bestselling author of The
Day the Crayons Quit -- Drew Daywalt * The Day the Crayons Quit
*
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