Chicken Boy

October 24, 2005
As sensitively wrought if not quite as engrossing as Dowell's Dovey Coe
, this slice-of-life novel shows the hurt, pride and hidden potential of a boy from a dysfunctional family. When Toby McCauley enters seventh grade, everyone expects him to be as much a troublemaker as his older siblings and as "crazy" as his grandmother, who gets arrested after driving up the sidewalk to drop Toby off at junior high for his first day of school. Upholding McCauley tradition, Toby does play the role of a rebel at first, peeving Coach Kelly by refusing to change his clothes for P.E. and earning himself a suspension for getting into a fight. It isn't until he finds a friend in classmate Henry, an aspiring chicken farmer, that Toby begins to turn things around. Using economical prose, colorfully strewn with rural dialect, the author traces how Toby, previously a loner, learns to trust people outside the McCauley clan as he helps Henry and his younger brother raise chickens. If Toby doesn't share Henry's passion for hens (at least at first), he does appreciate his friend's stable home life and gentle encouragement to embrace rather than resist opportunities to excel. Once again displaying a keen ear for dialogue and a skill for painting pictures with words, the author creates a story of friendship and family conflict that is both heart-wrenching and heartwarming. Ages 10-up.

February 1, 2006
Gr 4-7 -Tobin McCauley begins the seventh grade out of step with the rest of the world in Frances O -Roark Dowell -s novel (Atheneum, 2005). Unexpectedly forming a bond with the new kid, Henry, introduces Tobin to Henry -s -chickens have souls - philosophy, the delights of chicken raising, and the richness of having a friend. Tobin, whose mom died five years ago, lives with his father and siblings, but his dad is uncommunicative and often absent, so he spends plenty of time at his unconventional and absentminded Granny -s house. Everything seems to be working out for Tobin and he -s even figured out a way to make this awkward home situation work. Then Granny decides she wants custody of Tobin, and he ends up in foster care while the courts decide his fate. The characters are well defined, and the writing is both simple and evocative. Narrating in a slow Southern drawl, Stephen Hoye does a fine job of drawing out the nuances of the characters with different inflections and quirks for each one. A good choice for both public and school libraries. -"Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.