Interrupting Chicken

Written and Illustrated by David Ezra Stein

Caldecott Winner

When it’s time to read a bedtime story to little red chicken and Papa says, “…you are not going to interrupt the story tonight, are you?” the reader understands that little red chicken has a habit of interrupting her bedtime stories.

Papa wants little red chicken to relax during her bedtime story so she can fall asleep, but little red chicken can’t help interrupting the story to try to save the characters, like Hansel and Gretel, from harm.

Little red chicken continues to interrupt the stories (Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Chicken Little) until Papa is out of stories, so asks little red chicken to tell a story.

Little red chicken writes and illustrates a story called Bedtime for Papa and before long, realizes Papa has fallen asleep.

She is surprised that her Papa has fallen asleep and says, “Good night, Papa.”

Finally, little red chicken snuggles beside her Papa and finally falls asleep.

 

The illustrations in this book are colorful and vibrant, while still giving the reader a sense of bedtime, with the glow of a lamp and moonlight through a window. It’s clever how the classic stories appear in muted colors, as illustrated pages from those books, and then little red chicken appears in them as herself, in her vibrant colors, to save the characters. The illustrations have details, such as little red chicken’s toy box, nightstand, printed wallpaper, that create a nice setting for this bedtime story.

Stein, D. (2010). Interrupting Chicken. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.