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.)
Duvall and Jacob, beautiful children’s books
The writing and illustrating combination of Deborah Duvall and Murv Jacob have produced some of the most charming folk-tale and legend children’s books in Oklahoma. The Grandmother stories are a seven book collection of Cherokee legends. This collection won the Director’s Choice Award at the 2005 Oklahoma Center for the Book Awards. The illustrations are magnificent. They look like intricate woodcuts.
| The Great Ball Game of the Birds and Animals | ||||
| Deborah L. Duvall | ||||
| Murv Jacob , Illustrator | ||||
| An ancient Cherokee legend, retold with lively dialogue and intriguing illustrations. | ||||
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| How Medicine Came to the People: A Tale of the Ancient Cherokees | ||||
| Deborah L. Duvall | ||||
| Murv Jacob , Illustrator | ||||
| Simply told and magnificently illustrated, this fable is the story of revenge taken by animals against the people that hunt them for hides and food. It details the origins of the Cherokee herbal medicine. With the heightened awareness of the threat of disease and the usefulness of herbal remedies this story will enrich children as well as any adult. | ||||
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| How Rabbit Lost His Tail: A Traditional Cherokee Legend | ||||
| Deborah L. Duvall | ||||
| Murv Jacob , Illustrator | ||||
| In this, the third volume of the Grandmother Stories, Rabbit, whose Cherokee name is Ji-Stu, loses his long tail which is covered with thick, silky fur. | ||||
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| The Opossum’s Tale | ||||
| Deborah L. Duvall | ||||
| Murv Jacob , Illustrator | ||||
| Opossum brags about his tail, but later regrets it. | ||||
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| Rabbit and the Bears | ||||
| Deborah L. Duvall | ||||
| Murv Jacob , Illustrator | ||||
| Instead of gathering food for the winter, Ji-Stu the Rabbit travels with Yona the Bear to Mulberry Place, the high mountain homeland of the bears where the bears have much dancing and celebrations. | ||||
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| Rabbit and the Wolves | ||||
| Deborah L. Duvall | ||||
| Murv Jacob , Illustrator | ||||
| Ji-Stu the Rabbit travels far from home to try to prove he can be a great singer. | ||||
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| Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting: A Traditional Cherokee Legend | ||||
| Deborah L. Duvall | ||||
| Murv Jacob , Illustrator | ||||
| In the fifth Cherokee tale in the Grandmother Stories series, Ji-Stu the Rabbit thinks he has caught the Chief of the Wood Ducks, but soon wonders who caught who? | ||||
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Then there’s the Rabbit tales, continuing on with Cherokee trickster stories, starring Ji-Stu, as he goes on his many adventures. There’s How Rabbit Lost His Tail and Rabbit and the Well, Rabbit and the Bears, Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting and even Rabbit Goes to Kansas.
Reading level: grade 4 and up. All can be purchased from the University of New Mexico Press.
If you haven’t seen these books you’re in for quite a treat. 
