I’m in love! Bawk! Bawk!

That’s right. I’m in love… with Chicken Dance, Oklahoma author Tammi Sauer’s latest children’s title. (Young Bill Young here, by the way. Kitty’s letting me bust in on her blog once again. She’s a generous soul!)

I’m a sucker for clever picture books. Reading to children is fun, but it’s doubly fun when the book’s humor can be appreciated by adults, as well. Sauer’s partner in crime is illustrator Dan Santat. You can tell this work was both a labor of love and a well-spring of creativity for these two kids-in-adult-bodies. (That’s Sauer and Santat above, getting their squawk on in the book’s end sheets.)

Chicken Dance is an against-all-odds tale that proves you reap the best rewards by being true to yourself. The plot: hens Lola and Marge attempt to win the barnyard talent show in order to capture free tickets to see famous rooster Elvis Poultry in concert. This simple concept is complicated by the duo’s quest to find their unique talent, menacing punk ducks who have won the barnyard competition every year, cows jumping over the moon, goats eating tractors, a surprise ending, and much more. The book jacket features an Elvis Poultry album cover with songs like “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Wattle.” Even the authors get in on the record album parody for their book jacket flap bios.

Just an incredible package of wonder, and a great gift for the young person in your life. I’ll have another holiday book idea for kids later this week, if Kitty lets me bust in on the blog again! (Insert smiley emoticon here.)

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