'The Chicken Gave It to Me'

by Anne Fine, Philippe Dupasquier (Illustrator)

When a chicken pushes a small book towards Andrew on his way to school one morning, and won't leave him alone until he picks it up, Andrew's friend Gemma finds it hard to believe. But when the two children start to read the contents of the book The True Story of Harrowing Farm they find themselves deeply moved by the chicken's tale. And if chickens have never moved you before, prepare to shed some tears now because this chicken is special. She is risking what is left of her life by flying frillions of miles in a spaceship to try and save us humans from a terrible fate.

Genres: Childrens, Vegan, Animals, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Though readers often find themselves inadvertently laughing aloud as they read Anne Fine's novels, as she herself admits, "a lot of my work, even for fairly young readers, raises serious social issues. Growing up is a long and confusing business. I try to show that the battle through the chaos is worthwhile and can, at times, be seen as very funny." In 1994, this unique combination of humour and realism inspired the hit movie MRS. DOUBTFIRE, based on Anne's novel MADAME DOUBTFIRE and starring the late comedic genius Robin Williams.

Anne is best known in her home country, England, as a writer principally for children, but over the years she has also written eight novels for adult readers. Seven of these she describes as black - or sour - comedies, and the first, THE KILLJOY, simply as "dead black". These novels have proved great favourites with reading groups, causing readers to squirm with mingled horror and delight as she peels away the layers in all too familiar family relationships, exposing the tangled threads and conflicts beneath. (It's perhaps not surprising that Anne has openly expressed astonishment at the fact that murder in the domestic setting is not even more common.)

Anne has written more than sixty books for children and young people. Amongst numerous other awards, she is twice winner of both the Carnegie Medal, Britain's most prestigious children's book award, and the Whitbread Award. Twice chosen as Children's Author of the Year in the British Book Awards, Anne Fine was also the first novelist to be honoured as Children's Laureate in the United Kingdom. In 2003, Anne became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Her work has been translated into forty five languages.

Anne Fine lives in the north of England and has two grown up daughters.

Reviews

[Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm absolutely cheating with the length of the books I'm reading to meet my goal at this point, and it is totally worth it. Loved this book as a kid

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised to discover this book about the rights of chickens on the shelf in my school library. It's not great, but it covers a topic that most kids are completely unaware of in a relatively accessible way. Andrew and Gemma read a book written by a chicken about an alien invasion. The aliens happen to liberate egg-laying chickens so they can repurpose the cages to take some humans home for food. The chicken accurately describes the conditions that 95% of "layers" spend their lives in and examines through the parallel of aliens feasting on humans the hypocrisies in the justifications that people give for exploiting animals for food. The jump from laying hens to broiler chickens wasn't clearly or accurately explained. It seemed a little farfetched for the kids to understand without it being explained to them that hens raised for their eggs are also processed into chicken meat, but misleading as well because the conditions for broiler chickens are pretty different from layers, though both situations are awful.

This book is described as a "humorous story" in the CIP. I really didn't find it funny at all. It was perhaps outlandish from some perspectives, but the odd approach to dealing with this horrific topic didn't make it any funnier or any less chilling. The aliens were eventually won over to the perspective of the chicken that we should treat animals that we're raising for food humanely so that they live happy lives. This is a perspective that many people I know support in their words, even if they don't actually make sure that any meat/eggs/dairy they eat came from animals that lived happy lives and lived out their natural lifespans. Putting in terms of "as long as the people have happy lives, it's perfectly okay if they get eaten at the end" really showed me how preposterous this perspective is unless you really don't value individual lives (human or non-human). The kids in the story both decided that they'd be perfectly fine being eaten, as long as they first got to live happy lives. What??? I don't want to be eaten, ever. I don't think it's okay to raise people (or any other animal) as long as they get to be happy along the way, so that one day we can kill them for food. If the author had used humor to expose the hypocrisy of this stance, maybe this could have passed as a humorous story. But instead it just felt like the author was afraid to take too strong a stance and make readers feel uncomfortable about what they eat.

[Nick Watton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought provoking tale of animal welfare for your children.

[Deidre Durban · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent explanation of battery farming that children can cope with.

[The Jesus Fandom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Not only super fun; it's also a good wake-up call that makes you reconsider how we treat animals.

[Jason C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anne Fine's writing style is not for me. This book has the message of "don't support battery farming" but it's not weaved into a story, it's like the words have been stuck on to the message. Quite a bizarre and old fashioned way of writing.

[Zuha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful read

[Cici · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Meekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

i did not read it yet

[Maryam Zulfiqar · Rating 5 out of 5]

That is a great reader

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this fable is incredibly exciting and engaging for middle aged children, therefore it would be ideal for story-time because it is likely to open the possibilities for discussions. I also think it would be a great book to set tasks for the children and incorporate Harrowing Farm into their art lessons by maybe getting them to do illustrations similar to the ones inside the book, or even have a school trip to a local farm. I think the authors use of language is very descriptive and can get the children's imaginations ticking, 'try to imagine, first how it felt' (p.16) this gives children the opportunity to experience the fable from the chickens perspective. The chicken had never been outside before and describes how silly and 'chicken dippy' it went when faced with this new sense of freedom. This can encourage the children to reflect on an experience they may have encountered that was thrilling for them and caused their behaviour to be silly. The chicken refers to itself as 'feather brained' these are great ways to introduce the use of metaphorical language in children's books. When the chicken stumbles across the spaceship and discovers that the two little green men are plotting to eat humans it really makes you think about the food chain and why it has become acceptable for humans to eat animals but yet it wouldn't be acceptable for aliens to eat humans. The humans claim to be superior to animals such as 'chickens and pigs' but the aliens respond by saying they do not consider humans to be superior and say 'the only thing you lot really had going for you was that you ran the whole planet'. This gives children the opportunity to think of our powers as humans and think about the responsibilities we have to ensure that we do not take the planet for granted, as it is in our control. It triggers the children to think about where meat comes from and the characters in the book reflect meat eaters and non-meat eaters. The character Vinit has never been a meat eater, therefore it teaches children about peoples different beliefs regarding vegetarianism. This book cleverly reverses roles of putting humans into cages ready to be eaten, which really makes the reader think, is it morally right to keep chicken's in cages prior to slaughtering them and eating them? 'Now look at you! The tables are turned, and do any of you have the guts to face the fact you're getting no worse than you gave out?' (p39). Andrew another one of the characters explains that he would happily eat the meat if he knew that it had lived a happy life before it was slaughtered. This is something that has also made me think about the eat that I consume, and I agree with Andrew. From this day forward, I will be making a conscious effort to eat free range chicken, because I understood the moral of the fable. Gemma joins in with Andrew suggesting that she wouldn't mind being eaten if she had been given the opportunity to live her life to the fullest before being eaten and if it was done in a fair procedure. At the very end of the book Andrew and Gemma go off singing ''Let your chickens run around! Eggs are tastier if they can't be found" this explains that there is nothing wrong with eating fresh chicken eggs and chickens but it is our responsibility as human beings to ensure that we think about where we are getting our meat from and the effects that our actions have on our food chain.

[Rebecca Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘The chicken gave it to me’ by Anne Fine

A boy called Andrew comes across a dirty old book and shows it to his friend Gemma, he tells her the ‘chicken gave it to him’. The book is called ‘The true story of harrowing farm’, the children soon realise the farm next to the school is called harrowing farm. Together the child read the book throughout the school day. The story book is told by the chicken, firstly him explaining how badly they were treated by the humans in their cages. However, aliens then invade and free the chickens, instead they lock up the humans. At the end of the school day the children go to the farm, but only find empty cages. They are inspired by the fact that one chicken managed to close down one farm then humans should be able to close down other harrowing farms.

This book was used during my SEA placement in KS2 year five class; it was used to address difference areas of the English National Curriculum, such as, for and against arguments, speech marks and using an author’s structure and writing to enhance their own writing. The book also allowed children to create their own endings to the story as it was very imaginative. The blurb and front cover provided interesting discussion and many possible ideas were created. The book offers lots of descriptive words to increase children's vocabulary.

[Angela Tuson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine if aliens came to Earth and treated humans the way humans treat battery hens? If you were a hen (recently freed by aliens) would you leave the humans to become roast dinners for aliens (after all, they'd been doing it to you), or would you try to inform the consumer aliens what the farmer aliens were doing (after all, hens are not bound by human's lack of feeling)? This the dilemma facing the heroic hen of the title. What she does may not surprise you - but the WAY she does it will!

A truly unusual read, sad as well as funny, always delightful. It may well get children asking some of the same questions as the kids in the book: why do adults lie to children and to each other, why does advertising gloss over facts and why is what we believe so often untrue and even illogical?

A treat of a book!

[K. Carters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know Anne Fine through Tulip Touch -a very dark book that was geared towards teenage readers. I picked this book up as the title threw me a little. It's brilliant and deserves to be more famous. This reverses battery hens on their head...what if humans were in that situation. It did feel slightly preachy at times but it was so brilliant to read it and hear the kids arguing about how they would want to be eaten. Highly recommended.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disquieting. Disturbing. The plight of the chickens becomes our own plight and never thoroughly answers the question of what happened to the humans in the cages. While the issues are real, the shock tactics employed to make this personal left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and gave me nightmares. Not something I would give to sensitive children at any rate.

[Qamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's lovely that you read "The Chicken Gave it to Me" by Anne Fine. This book helps us understand that sometimes, the most unlikely friendships can bring about the most extraordinary adventures.

We shouldn't underestimate a simple friendship's impact; it might lead to unexpected but beautiful experiences.

Keep on reading and growing, sweetheart.

Love,
Father & Mother

[Barbara Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to read this book with the kids at school and it has an interesting take on meat eating. I loved it then and still do. Anne Fine gets her point across brilliantly. Such a short book yet hits the spot every time.
And ..... I DON'T glow in the dark - fancy!

[Katy W · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd book; simplistic reasoning, but maybe that's too adult a view point. As well-written as ever, but Anne Fine has written so many other books that are more interesting and enjoyable than this one.

[Laura (: · Rating 3 out of 5]

ite x

[Hina Sehrish · Rating 5 out of 5]

there would be a chicken which gives a book to a boy and her sister don't beleive this

[Taha Rao]

It is awesome

[Mustafa · Rating 5 out of 5]

good reader

[Denise Mansfield · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible! 1 star way overrates this book. Don't bother with it, move on.

[Raheem Noor · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is about chicken and interting