Why the Chicken Crossed the Road

by David Macaulay

A rollicking investigation of cause and effect by the Caldecott medalist. The tale of the chicken and Desperate Dan, a bandit, told in beautiful full-color pictures and leavened by the trademark wit of David Macaulay.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, 1st Grade

31 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

David Macaulay, born in 1946, was eleven when his parents moved from England to Bloomfield, New Jersey. He found himself having to adjust from an idyllic English childhood to life in a fast paced American city. During this time he began to draw seriously, and after graduating from high school he enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). After spending his fifth year at RISD in Rome on the European Honors Program, he received a bachelor’s degree in architecture and vowed never to practice. After working as an interior designer, a junior high school teacher, and a teacher at RISD, Macaulay began to experiment with creating books. He published his first book, Cathedral, in 1973. Following in this tradition, Macaulay created other books—including City, Castle, Pyramid, Mill, Underground, Unbuilding, and Mosque—that have provided the explanations of the how and the why in a way that is both accessible and entertaining. From the pyramids of Egypt to the skyscrapers of New York City, the human race’s great architectural and engineering accomplishments have been demystified through Macaulay's elaborate show-and-tells. Five of these titles have been made into popular PBS television programs.

Reviews

[Melki]

A cute story about the wacky chain of events that transpire when a chicken ventures across a road.



PLUS, you really do get an answer to this age-old question.

[Luisa Knight]

A pretty funny tale regarding the age old classic with a one-thing-lead-to-another explanation!

Ages: 4 - 9

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[Laurie Clark]

After the chicken crosses the road it triggers a series of crazy events beginning with cows crossing an ancient bridge, a passing train, dining-car passengers, an outlaw, a golden watch, melted ice and the readers end up at the beginning of the story again without expecting it. A great example of Post-Modern books where reality only comes through the unique interpretations of what the world means to us individually. The storyline is non-linear, and this picture book also pushes the boundaries of the conventional picture book format. Not all the illustrations or format fit on the page. This allows the readers to look beyond the pictures and “fill in” the gaps. This offers multiple perspectives or realities to the readers.

This would be a great book to allow students to explore ways in which authors use words and illustrations to create unexpected stories and connections within a text. Students can also study relationships between words and illustrations represented in the text. Entertaining and fun for all ages!

[Brittany Gaskins]

A chicken and a thief cross paths in this very colorful book about the puzzling mystery.

I thought this book was engaging but confusing on how these related. This book is up for different interpretations like most Macaulay books.

I would use this with the Black and White book by the same author and then have student's discuss as a class what they got from these stories. Student's will discuss their ideas and put into a summary what they gathered from this book and ideas that may have been from the other book as well.

[Reyna Jasmer]

On my first read through only looking at the pictures, I didn't find myself enjoying the book. Pictures alone were not enough to entice me. Before returning for a reread to include the text, I decided to read the inside book jacket and read that the book was all about cause and effect. That helped me to enjoy the book more when reading through. It is a little silly and I could see younger children enjoying this book for the story as well as for the pictures. In the classroom, I would recommend it as a great book to teach cause and effect. I could see the kids shouting out answers to what was the cause and what was the effect and then have the students create their own silly cause and effect books; maybe why did the [fill in the blank] cross the road.

[Cynthia]

When I opened the book, I realized that the inside of the cover pages were a shade of dark blue, which matched the officers uniforms, and when you take the book jacket off you automatically see a chicken in the center of the cover. I also really liked that the whole book was basically about cause and effect and I feel like this would be a great way to teach children to learn about this topic.

[Jordyn Tinder]

I liked this book because I thought it was engaging to younger kids. I thought the drawings would appeal to them and help draw their attention in. I think this is a perfect book to teach kids about cause and effect.

[Brandy]

Now THIS is one “cause & effect” book that I could REALLY follow & understand! Man, that Rollo kid must’ve been ONE HECKUVA BAD KID for that teacher to keep reacting like that!! 😂😱😂😱 But, his name IS “Rollo”!! 😂😂

[Suzie]

I get that the book is showing cause and effect, but it left us all a little confused.

[Michelle Farella]

A very different take on the circle story genre. I wonder if kids pick up on the little things in this book as much as adults would.

[Sarah]

Funny!

[BreAnna (Bre'sBooks)]

Funny and genius.

[Becker Children]

We enjoyed this bit of silliness. I don't think I'll be gifting it at baby showers or anything, but it was fun to have some levity.

[Gina Valdes]

I think that Why the Chicken Crossed the Road is a fun book! It first caught my attention because of its title; an old saying that we’ve all heard forever but never actually understand. I think that the title alone could draw kids in and make them curious about the story. This is a perfect book to use to teach kids about cause and effect. At a young age, cause and effect is a difficult concept to understand. Children are always doing things that have results, but they don’t usually understand how they got from one point to another. In our world, everything is the result of something else. Because this concept can be very confusing, the author did a wonderful job of using full bleed illustrations to explain this more clearly. Every page is full of bright colors and a very detailed, vivid, image. A young reader would be able to follow the story without too much difficulty. Not only are the pictures big and clear, some of them are also very humorous. Kids are usually able to get into a book more easily if humor is involved. This way, they are learning an important life concept but having fun at the same time.

[Ashley Thorpe]

While I was reading this book I noticed that the inside cover pages were a dark blue, just like the police officers uniforms. If you take off the book jacket you will see the actual book cover is red and has a blue chicken right in the center of the book, thus giving us the idea that this book is about a chicken. The text throughout this book does not change, but it does sometimes the text follows the picture next to it or underneath it. Some of the pictures in this book bleed on to the night page, but not the whole page. I also noticed that were every there is text, there is a white space. As well, reading though this book, it was a little bit hard to follow the first time because it seemed as if there was a page or two that I was missing. Another thing to remember when reading this books is that it is a cause and effect. When you turn the page, what happened on the previous page causes an effect.

[Lexi.vernaglia]

This book was too cute! I think everyone has asked the questions at least once, why did the chicken cross the road? At first it was a little confusing with each scenario leading to the next one. I remember thinking where is this story going when I was reading it. But it all comes together at the end. The set up of it was clever; it was like a reverse circle in a way. This story answers your question as to why the chicken crossed the road. Unfortunately for the town that it happened in, it caused a lot of chaos. The chicken crossed the road, which lead to the cows going over a bridge, which caused it to collapse, etc. At the end of the story everything end up coming together, and the chicken crossed the road because a customer at the restaurant ordered chicken for lunch. Now, you know why the chicken crossed the road.

[Kyounga Kim]

I liked the title that is why I chose this book to read. "Why the chicken crossed the road". It is the title of this book which is provoking curiosity about the book. however, the real story is little bit nothing new. On the cover jacket, the author mentioned the intention of the book though; it is about cause and effect of the world. So, I like to talk about the illustration rather than story itself.
The main color is dark blue which is so charming. The illustration looks like acrylic colored and use red, blue, and black mostly which makes the pictures vivid and strong. Two of third has no frame in their pictures which makes pictures more close to the readers. They also have a little bit bubbles in the pictures which give the story more fun.

[Katy]

Why the Chicken Crossed the Road is a very humorous story about how every single action that we make causes a reaction that we might not be expecting. A chicken decided that he was going to cross the road which then caused a series of chaotic events. All of the images were extremely bright and colorful. I do not know the media of the illustrations because it was not listed, but these images, no matter how they were done, were incredible. I feel that the illustrations helped to aid the story very well. The images were not bordered and the text was all over the page which really helped aid to the humor of the story. Overall, I feel that all of the chaos and color made this story a very solid 4 star book.

[Ashley Frederick]

This book was...weird. That's the best way to describe it. Basically, a chicken crosses the road which causes a bunch of things to wrong in the city, all in a round-about way. I gave this book two stars because, even though I did not like it that much, kids in the classroom might ike it and understand it better than me. But, the main reason why I did not give it only one star is because of what I got from the story. The meaning of the story, for me, was to explain that even the smallest thing in life can set off the biggest explosion. The small things do matter and they can change everything. Kind of like when you tell a small lie and the lie just keeps growing and growing.

[Carlie Engels]

This would be a good story to read to children to teach cause/effect. However, I found myself very confused while reading. The story was hard to follow because every page had a new set of characters and a new setting. Aside from the confusing story line and chain of events, the illustrations were very colorful and eye catching. They are unrealistic and cartoon-like. Some pages have full bleed illustrations while other pages are bordered. The type face is normal and the text is found in different spots on each page. The endpapers are a deep, dark blue which complements the dark blue boarder on the cover. The book is hard covered and made in portrait format.

[Shoaa Aljohani]

Why The Chicken Crossed. According to the topic of this story the reader will wondering why?? That lead children to read the story and figure out the answer. .This book has interesting pictures and colorful pages.Its a good story to each children cause and effect.This contains some elements of visual grammar as no frames inside its full bleed.Also,there are relate between one of images to another.This book too contains more than one of pages shown half body for some characters like some people running away or falling from somewhere.In general,there are a lot of specific details in illustration.

[Books Kids Like]

A chicken crosses a road near an old, rickety bridge and sets off a chain of events that include cows crossing the bridge and crashing through a train roof, a burglar on the train escaping justice, a serious thaw at an ice factory, and a science experiment gone awry. While one calamity follows the next, the burglar's loot, unbeknownst to him, is falling from a hole in his bag. The police follow the trail of valuables oblivious to the disasters happening around them. Finally the thief is recaptured and put on a train. As that train prepares to go under an old bridge, a chicken starts to cross the road.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Matthew Meehan]

This is a fun take to answer the famous question, "Why did the chicken cross the road?". It is a simple cause-and-effect book that shows how one simple action can have huge ramifications.The illustrations are well done, but the creativity is in the text. The story is well written, and often time, there are sentences widway through when reaching a page turn. I think this book would be a great exercise for kids who are just how to put things in order because you could make strips of each individual event, then read the book to them, and let them have at it.

[Katelynn Callahan]

This book is about the simple question that has been used forever, "Why did the chicken cross the road?". It goes through the story of one little thing occurring and then causing many other thing to happen because of it. The book is very well written with exciting illustration. One thing that did bother me about this book is that sentences would be halfway through and then continued on the next page. In my opinion this may be confusing for young readers. It is a good story to teach kids that everything they do has its consequences whether they are good or bad.

[Kendra]

Why the Chicken Crossed the Road by David Macaulay is a fun yet confusing book. as a kid we heard many jokes on why the chicken crossed the road and this book take a spin on that joke by answering the famous question and showing what results in the chicken crossing the road. A chicken crosses the road and then several events happen because of it. I like how each example displays cause and effect and at the very end all the events tie together. The pictures are colorful and interesting too. I also found it interesting that a sentence would be on one side of the page, but finished on the other

[Jayne Hill]

While reading this story I could imagine all the chaos going on in the town. I thought it was so cleaver how the story circled around without the reader being able to expect that. If I was to give this book a theme I would say it is realizing that everything is related someway or another, directly or indirectly. This story can be used to teach cause and effect or as a character building lesson to show how our actions can have good or bad consequences. This portrait orientated book tells an elaborated tale with full bleed, full color pictures that help the reader follow along with the story.

[Jacqueline]

i like this book because we have always heard the saying "why did the chicken cross the road?" This tells a story about it; it is very cute. The book was kind of exaggerating things and had a lot of imagination. It also shows the kids little things make a big difference. Another example of this would be telling the kids saying thank you and please is something small, but it shows manners and much more. The pictures are soemthing different to show as well.

[Eric Hernandez]

Lets be honest who hasn't actually why did the chicken cross the road? If you haven't then im sorry! This is just a curious book with the title being such a popular saying so when i first read it i was curious. As for little kids looking at the cover what catches their eyes are the chickens im guessing. I think this is a good read for children's so they can find out....why did the chicken cross the road.

[Anna Davis]

Why the Chicken Crossed the Road by David Macaulay is a postmodern children’s book, and a very good example of one. This question/joke has been asked so many times and this book answers it. A chicken crosses the road and then several events happen because of it. It is a good book to teach younger children about cause vs. effect. The pictures are colorful and interesting too. I also found it interesting the a sentence would be on one side of the page, but finished on the other.

[Ahmad]

This book is a great way to teach kids about cause and effect and show them how every action they do will trigger a reaction thus they must think wisely before they do something. As the book shows why the chicken crossed the road and by doing so it triggered a series of events such as the cows smashing into the train and the robber got away and so on.. The illustrations were ok so as the font used. Over all i think this is a great book for children to read.