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Beauty and the Beaks: A Turkey's Cautionary Tale
Beauty and her friends think Lance is the most conceited bird in the hen yard. From the moment the turkey arrives on the farm, he spends his time swaggering around the Chic Hen beauty shop, boasting that he is the only bird invited to a special feast. But when Beauty practices her favorite eggsercise, flying, she accidentally discovers just what kind of guest Lance will be at the feast. Can beauty come up with a plan to save Lance before his life eggspires?
32 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2007
About the author
Mary Jane Auch
50 books70 followersMary Jane Auch also writes as MJ Auch.
The thought of becoming a writer never occurred to MJ Auch as a child. Her only literary efforts in those days were the plays which she and her girlfriend, Noreen, wrote for their marionettes. They produced these extravaganzas in Noreen’s garage and organized the neighborhood boys into a sales force to sell tickets and refreshments.
Summer visits to both of MJ’s grandmothers led to her fascination with chickens. One grandmother had a small backyard flock and the other grandmother and two bachelor uncles had a large farm that supplied eggs to half of Long Island. MJ learned that a flock of chickens had almost the same range of personalities that could be found in a classroom, from the quiet, shy chicken to the big bully.
MJ loved books and read constantly. She wrote stories, drawn in comic book style with speech balloons for the dialog. Her interest in drawing continued through high school, and she went on to become an art major at Skidmore College. After graduation, MJ headed for New York City to seek fame and fortune, but after a year of designing prints for men's pajamas, she decided she wanted to do something more meaningful with her life. She enrolled in the Occupational Therapy program at Columbia University, which led to some wonderful years of working in a children's hospital near Hartford, Connecticut.
On a brief stop home to visit her parents before transferring to a new job in Denver, she met Herm Auch, a graphic artist and editorial cartoonist for the Rochester newspaper. It was love at first sight, and MJ never made it to Denver. They were married in 1967 and within a few years had produced a daughter, Katrin and a son, Ian. They moved from the city to a small farm, complete with chickens, ducks, and geese. Armed with a huge collection of Mother Earth News and absolutely no practical experience, they tackled farm life with gusto, gaining much comedy material for books MJ’s future books.
As the children grew older, MJ began to look for work in her original field of art. Like Jenna's mother in Mom Is Dating Weird Wayne, she had a brief stint as a “zit zapper” at a school picture factory. Then she started illustrating for Pennywhistle Press, a national children's newspaper, and this sparked her interest in illustrating children’s books.
In the summer of 1984, MJ took a week-long children's writing conference on Cape Cod. She tried to write a picture book manuscript to take to the conference, but instead found herself writing a middle-grade novel. When her instructor, Natalie Babbitt, told of starting out as an artist and finding she could paint better pictures with words, something clicked. MJ finally knew that she wanted to a writer.
She started sending manuscripts to publishers, writing four full-length novels before she sold the first one. Then she sold a second book to another publisher that same week. It had taken two years and thirteen rejections, but MJ had finally reached her goal!mShe continued writing books for older kids and abandoned her dream of illustrating for a while. Then, after nine books, she wrote and illustrated The Easter Egg Farm. This set in motion a series of picture books featuring poultry involved in the arts.
The Auchs have now become a family of artists. Their children are grown and pursuing art careers of their own. Kat, a graphic artist, is now working as Associate Art Director for Scrapbook Answers Magazine in San Francisco. Ian has been a graphic artist and 3-D animator and is now Assistant New Media Editor for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. Ian is also a metal artist and created the chicken-sized beauty parlor chair for [b:Beauty and the Beaks|1918127|Beaut
The thought of becoming a writer never occurred to MJ Auch as a child. Her only literary efforts in those days were the plays which she and her girlfriend, Noreen, wrote for their marionettes. They produced these extravaganzas in Noreen’s garage and organized the neighborhood boys into a sales force to sell tickets and refreshments.
Summer visits to both of MJ’s grandmothers led to her fascination with chickens. One grandmother had a small backyard flock and the other grandmother and two bachelor uncles had a large farm that supplied eggs to half of Long Island. MJ learned that a flock of chickens had almost the same range of personalities that could be found in a classroom, from the quiet, shy chicken to the big bully.
MJ loved books and read constantly. She wrote stories, drawn in comic book style with speech balloons for the dialog. Her interest in drawing continued through high school, and she went on to become an art major at Skidmore College. After graduation, MJ headed for New York City to seek fame and fortune, but after a year of designing prints for men's pajamas, she decided she wanted to do something more meaningful with her life. She enrolled in the Occupational Therapy program at Columbia University, which led to some wonderful years of working in a children's hospital near Hartford, Connecticut.
On a brief stop home to visit her parents before transferring to a new job in Denver, she met Herm Auch, a graphic artist and editorial cartoonist for the Rochester newspaper. It was love at first sight, and MJ never made it to Denver. They were married in 1967 and within a few years had produced a daughter, Katrin and a son, Ian. They moved from the city to a small farm, complete with chickens, ducks, and geese. Armed with a huge collection of Mother Earth News and absolutely no practical experience, they tackled farm life with gusto, gaining much comedy material for books MJ’s future books.
As the children grew older, MJ began to look for work in her original field of art. Like Jenna's mother in Mom Is Dating Weird Wayne, she had a brief stint as a “zit zapper” at a school picture factory. Then she started illustrating for Pennywhistle Press, a national children's newspaper, and this sparked her interest in illustrating children’s books.
In the summer of 1984, MJ took a week-long children's writing conference on Cape Cod. She tried to write a picture book manuscript to take to the conference, but instead found herself writing a middle-grade novel. When her instructor, Natalie Babbitt, told of starting out as an artist and finding she could paint better pictures with words, something clicked. MJ finally knew that she wanted to a writer.
She started sending manuscripts to publishers, writing four full-length novels before she sold the first one. Then she sold a second book to another publisher that same week. It had taken two years and thirteen rejections, but MJ had finally reached her goal!mShe continued writing books for older kids and abandoned her dream of illustrating for a while. Then, after nine books, she wrote and illustrated The Easter Egg Farm. This set in motion a series of picture books featuring poultry involved in the arts.
The Auchs have now become a family of artists. Their children are grown and pursuing art careers of their own. Kat, a graphic artist, is now working as Associate Art Director for Scrapbook Answers Magazine in San Francisco. Ian has been a graphic artist and 3-D animator and is now Assistant New Media Editor for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. Ian is also a metal artist and created the chicken-sized beauty parlor chair for [b:Beauty and the Beaks|1918127|Beaut
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
November 20, 2018
This is a Wild book unique unto itself. Our family had a lot of fun with this! I bring you this unique find. Anyone looking for an odd ball story - Here It IS!
I thought this would be based on Beauty and the beast. It is not dear friends. This is a whole new ball of wax. This is about Beauty who runs the farmyard beauty shop. Her special gift is she is a Hen who can actually fly, but she doesn't run away. She is kind and is great at perms and highlights.
One day a Self-centered Turkey is new to the yard. He is invited to an exclusive dinner no one else is. Beauty investigates and finds out Turkey is the dinner. Now Turkey is scared, so beauty gives him a make over. I mean, this book is fantastic. It has a cross-dressing Turkey- all to save his life of course. This is a modern tale.
My niece thinks she wants to be a hair dresser and run a salon. She really got into the craziness of this story. The illustrations are wild and hilarious. The beauty parlor is the center of the story and she really got into the wackiness of all this. She loved this book and gave it 5 stars. My nephew loved this book. He loved all the crazy characters in it. They were wacky and wild and almost hippy looking. We laughed and read through this more than once. This was our kind of humor
I love that Mary Jane Auch fills this story with pun after pun. It's eggsellent. My favorite pun in the whole book is when turkey finds out he is to be dinner and he says "wattle I do?" I live for that kind of pun. It's the best. Our family calls that a 5 star groaner.
If you are looking for something different, interesting, unexpected and outright strange and not your typical Thanksgiving book, then this is the book for you. This is like no other Thanksgiving book I've read. It's pure strange punny humor. ENJOY!!!
I thought this would be based on Beauty and the beast. It is not dear friends. This is a whole new ball of wax. This is about Beauty who runs the farmyard beauty shop. Her special gift is she is a Hen who can actually fly, but she doesn't run away. She is kind and is great at perms and highlights.
One day a Self-centered Turkey is new to the yard. He is invited to an exclusive dinner no one else is. Beauty investigates and finds out Turkey is the dinner. Now Turkey is scared, so beauty gives him a make over. I mean, this book is fantastic. It has a cross-dressing Turkey- all to save his life of course. This is a modern tale.
My niece thinks she wants to be a hair dresser and run a salon. She really got into the craziness of this story. The illustrations are wild and hilarious. The beauty parlor is the center of the story and she really got into the wackiness of all this. She loved this book and gave it 5 stars. My nephew loved this book. He loved all the crazy characters in it. They were wacky and wild and almost hippy looking. We laughed and read through this more than once. This was our kind of humor
I love that Mary Jane Auch fills this story with pun after pun. It's eggsellent. My favorite pun in the whole book is when turkey finds out he is to be dinner and he says "wattle I do?" I live for that kind of pun. It's the best. Our family calls that a 5 star groaner.
If you are looking for something different, interesting, unexpected and outright strange and not your typical Thanksgiving book, then this is the book for you. This is like no other Thanksgiving book I've read. It's pure strange punny humor. ENJOY!!!
October 22, 2012
Okay, Maybe I'm just really easily impressed but I was completely blown away by the detail in this book. You could just keep looking and looking and continue to see amazing details. The mix of drawing, clay, real stuff, cloth, yarn, etc used in the pictures give it a feel that other drawn picture books don't have. I was just really impressed!
Also, as a chicken owner I felt like this bird knew her stuff! She referenced so many chicken phrases and parts that let me know she either owns chickens or has spent quite a bit of time around them for sure! Adults will be amused by the references in the pictures, things that will go over children's heads but we get (like a spin off of Martha Stewart Living magazine being Miss Coop Living (I think Martha would approve).
Lastly, the story was super cute and not to serious and the turkey lives! The look on the face of Beauty when she is reading the turkey recipe is priceless. I literally laughed out loud (twice actually) while reading that and one other part of the book. I need to reread it at Thanksgiving :D
Also, as a chicken owner I felt like this bird knew her stuff! She referenced so many chicken phrases and parts that let me know she either owns chickens or has spent quite a bit of time around them for sure! Adults will be amused by the references in the pictures, things that will go over children's heads but we get (like a spin off of Martha Stewart Living magazine being Miss Coop Living (I think Martha would approve).
Lastly, the story was super cute and not to serious and the turkey lives! The look on the face of Beauty when she is reading the turkey recipe is priceless. I literally laughed out loud (twice actually) while reading that and one other part of the book. I need to reread it at Thanksgiving :D
January 3, 2017
This has actually been on my to-read list for a long time, but in my personal opinion it was not worth the wait. The puppets are wild, the plot is silly, the story is too long for tots... some school-age children and their families will love it, but I just didn't.
November 11, 2012
Hens disguise a turkey as one of them to save him from being the Thanksgiving feast. Gotta love a book about a cross-dressing turkey.
themes: chickens, farms, friends, Thanksgiving, turkeys
themes: chickens, farms, friends, Thanksgiving, turkeys
November 30, 2009
The images in this book are photographs of actual puppets, different view and visually stimulating. Also great humor is also included. Great for upper elementary grades, my 5th graders loved it. The turkey gets invited to a special feast and feels honored because he is the only one invited, but the chickens in the hen house figure out why and develop a plan to save him. I would recommend this read before the holiday season. I connected a persuasive writing assignment with it.....a fun one.
January 26, 2017
I am not a fan of the style of illustration this author uses for her books. There is a lot of detail, but it's almost to the point of sensory overload. And I just find the birds to be creepy looking. Also, I'm not sure kids would get all of the puns, especially in a real-aloud setting where they probably can't see how the words are intentionally misspelled.
November 16, 2018
Such a cute Thanksgiving story, full of puns and hilarious illustrations. Auchs are so clever!
November 6, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this Thanksgiving tale. The pictures were adorable with a mix of photographs and backgrounds.
The humor was eggsellent! It should be an eggsclusive book for teachers only to read for Thanksgiving.
"Wattle I do?" Lance wailed. "My life is about to eggspire!" blubbered Lance.
Well to make a long story short: The chickens save Lance, the turkey's life by giving him and wax and curl. He is still pretending to be a chicken....
The humor was eggsellent! It should be an eggsclusive book for teachers only to read for Thanksgiving.
"Wattle I do?" Lance wailed. "My life is about to eggspire!" blubbered Lance.
Well to make a long story short: The chickens save Lance, the turkey's life by giving him and wax and curl. He is still pretending to be a chicken....
October 28, 2015
Beauty and the Beaks is a traditional literature book, specifically a fractured tale. Beauty, the main hen, owns the beauty parlor and is the only chicken who can fly. She gives make overs to all of the hens, making them all look beautiful. Then one day, a new hen arrives to the farm. However, this is not a hen at all, it is a turkey named Lance. Lance is very arrogant and brags to all of the hens about a feast that he is invited to that none of them are. He is constantly bragging about this feast, until Beauty decides to investigate on her own. She peers into the farmhouse and sees a recipe for chestnut stuffed turkey! She knows now that Lance is in trouble, and convinces all of her friends to try and help Lance to be saved from the feast! First, they try to teach him to fly, with out success. Finally, Beauty comes up with a great plan! They decide to make over Lance into a hen, to spare him from becoming Thanksgiving dinner! I enjoyed this version of Beauty and the Beast. I thought that it was interesting twist, involving chickens and turkeys, and that also makes it a humorous book. The illustrations in this book were awesome, they were humorous but also realistic. I enjoyed looking at the pictures of the chickens all dolled up in the beauty salon. The plot of the book was also great. It had some of the elements of the original fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast, like how the turkey showed up and every one thought he was ugly, until he was transformed into a hen to blend in with the rest of the chickens. It had it's own twists and differences that made it unique however. This book could be read close to Thanksgiving, and can be used to then talk about the history of Thanksgiving. And why it is that we eat turkey for Thanksgiving. We could bring in the creative arts by having cut outs of a chicken and have the students design a disguise for them.
October 8, 2014
A chicken named Beauty owned a beauty shop where she made the other hens look their best. Every day the shop was full of gossip among the hens. One day a turkey came in named Lance who stirred up the whole beauty shop. He said he was going to a feast, but none of the hens knew what he was talking about. Lance said that he was the only bird invited to go to the feast. When Beauty went to the farmhouse to investigate she saw a lot of pies in the pantry. She also saw a cookbook on the counter that was for Roast turkey with chestnut stuffing. She rushed to tell Lance that he was the feast at the meal. Lance freaked out, but Beauty and the girls in the beauty shop decided they would help. In the end, Beauty’s makeover of Lance worked and he was not eaten for Thanksgiving by the farmer and his wife. Lance even hung around the beauty shop more often and became a regular customer or friend. With this story being a unique version of the Beauty and the Beast, I could read the book Beauty and the Beast first and then read this book to compare and contrast the two stories. As a whole class, we could do a compare and contrast chart. With this book, I think I could tie in a lesson about how everyone is different and unique in their own way. (Fractured Fairy Tales/ Traditional Literature)
March 28, 2014
Chock-full of chuckles and wonderful play on words, Beauty and the Beaks is an egg-citing, original adventure. Author Mary Jane wrote the story and did an egg-cellent job sculpting the characters out of clay. Husband Herm took the pictures and put the book together on the computer. The end result is a dandy story about a turkey just in for a special feast.
“…. a very eggsclusive event,” says he. ”There’s only one bird invited. ME!”
That’s enough to pique Beauty's curiosity (Beauty is the owner of the Chic Hen beauty shop) who will sleuth around to find out why.
”Lance! You ARE the feast!” cries Beauty.
He is the centerpiece, in fact, and he’s going to be stuffed with chestnuts! Poor Lance! Wattle he do?
“My life is about to eggspire!” blubbers Lance.
“Don’t chicken out now,” says Beauty. “We’ll hide you.”
The farmyard chickens get busy hiding Lance as only Beauty knows how. I have to say the outrageous illustrations are a great part of the book’s appeal. If you’re looking for a fun and funny book, this book is fun and very funny. I wholeheartedly egg you on to read it; you can egg-spect to have a good time with this one.
“…. a very eggsclusive event,” says he. ”There’s only one bird invited. ME!”
That’s enough to pique Beauty's curiosity (Beauty is the owner of the Chic Hen beauty shop) who will sleuth around to find out why.
”Lance! You ARE the feast!” cries Beauty.
He is the centerpiece, in fact, and he’s going to be stuffed with chestnuts! Poor Lance! Wattle he do?
“My life is about to eggspire!” blubbers Lance.
“Don’t chicken out now,” says Beauty. “We’ll hide you.”
The farmyard chickens get busy hiding Lance as only Beauty knows how. I have to say the outrageous illustrations are a great part of the book’s appeal. If you’re looking for a fun and funny book, this book is fun and very funny. I wholeheartedly egg you on to read it; you can egg-spect to have a good time with this one.
January 18, 2018
3.5 stars -- The incredible critters created to illustrate this book, with their wacky look and googly eyes, are very reminiscent of the Muppets.
This is a pun-filled, humorous Thanksgiving story in which a flock of makeover-obsessed hens help a turkey disguise himself from the farmer on Thanksgiving Day. It's silly and gentle enough to get across the message that no one wants to be dinner, without turning off mainstream audiences--which will make it a good read-aloud for kids from a variety of backgrounds.
Unfortunately, unlike some books that have the farm family celebrating a turkey-free holiday, this one concludes with the farmer's wife demanding they go to a restaurant, where she presumably plans to eat turkey. Like Charlotte's Web, this story is mainly focused upon one special animal being saved.
This is a pun-filled, humorous Thanksgiving story in which a flock of makeover-obsessed hens help a turkey disguise himself from the farmer on Thanksgiving Day. It's silly and gentle enough to get across the message that no one wants to be dinner, without turning off mainstream audiences--which will make it a good read-aloud for kids from a variety of backgrounds.
Unfortunately, unlike some books that have the farm family celebrating a turkey-free holiday, this one concludes with the farmer's wife demanding they go to a restaurant, where she presumably plans to eat turkey. Like Charlotte's Web, this story is mainly focused upon one special animal being saved.
August 23, 2013
This is a cleverly written Thanksgiving tale about how the hens on the farm saved the turkey from certain peril at Thanksgiving dinner. The text is amusing and is full of "eggstravagant" puns and word-plays. The illustrations are photographs of beautifully decorated puppets and props.
Although some of the text is witty, it might prove difficult for younger children to understand or appreciate.
Although some of the text is witty, it might prove difficult for younger children to understand or appreciate.
December 4, 2014
Not one of my favorite Auch books. Didn't care for Poultrygeist either Perhaps she should stay away from holidays? I liked that there were bigger words to help build a child's vocabulary, but the story was entirely too silly and maybe a little awkward. The only way the turkey could escape was by Please.
October 17, 2017
This story is strange, and the puns are over the top, yet I found it delightful. The funky, colorful puppets used for the illustrations and the silly procession of events make it feel like watching a Muppet caper. Some details and puns will go over younger readers' heads, but 3rd graders and up should delight in this wacky bird of a tale.
December 18, 2017
Turkey Lance has no idea that he's to be killed and eaten for a Thanksgiving feast. With the help of his chicken friends, he is disguised as a chicken and thwarts the farmer's plans for him. Ton of wordplay that I think adults will crack up over, but might go over the heads of little ones.
Fun read-aloud for 2nd grade and up.
Fun read-aloud for 2nd grade and up.
October 30, 2007
Standard "turkey doesn't get he's invited to the feast as the main course" theme, but with lots of funny twists as only Auch can provide them. Way too many puns for my taste, but then I'm not an early elementary age kid, the clear audience for this book.
November 5, 2010
Lance the turkey lands in the chicken coop for a week on his way to the big feast. When Beauty discovers that he is the main event and not the main guest, they hatch up a plan to hide Lance and save his life. Clever.
November 10, 2016
This book is absolutely adorable! It's clever word choices make the book all the more (eg. eggist instead of exit, etc). The pictures are quite humorous as well. I think it uses clay animation. A must read!
November 29, 2017
This book is very "punny." When Beauty, the hen that runs the beauty parlor, realizes that Lance, the turkey, is about to be the main course at a feast, she does an eggcelent beauty makeover for Lance. Will the family see through his disguise or will Lance be saved?
September 16, 2012
Puns... Ugh.
November 12, 2012
Clever story about a bunch of hens who try to camouflage the turkey that is planned to be the main dish at this year's Thanksgiving feast--a lot of fun plays on words.
November 15, 2012
Good Thanksgiving books are really rare and this one is pretty terrible. :)
April 26, 2013
Love the word play in Auch's books and so do middle grade readers. This one will be a great read aloud in November along with Turkey Trouble and A Plump and Perky Turkey.
November 19, 2013
This was pun of you will. The kids didn't get it. They were not into it. If you like criss dressing you will love this book.
November 8, 2014
Ok.. a read aloud for adult audiences? :) So much word-play and punniness. Cute and I enjoyed it.
June 2, 2015
This was a cleverly written book. The pictures are quite entertaining and colorful. This would be an eggcellent book around Thanksgiving for story time.
November 20, 2017
Definitely an older grade read aloud for thanksgiving. The illustrations are gorgeous but the story of saving the turkey will be best for 3-5 grades
August 9, 2019
I'm a ravenous consumer of all Beauty & the Beast spinoffs, so this picture book caught my eye for it's title alone. The story had no relation to the classic fairytale, but it was a fun friendship tale, nonetheless. The story is a bit haphazard at points, although there is a positive theme of banding together & working together despite differences. Besides the key hen (Beauty) and the pretentious turkey, the other characters are interchangeable. Even for an early childhood crowd, I would have liked a bit more dramatic tension when Beauty discovered the threat and more clarity at the conclusion.
The artwork is what really captivated me, and the title page notes that the authors created the characters from felted-wool, feathers, polymer clay, and hand-sewn outfits and the miniature sets from found and constructed objects. Each page of the book is vibrantly colored and shows the care taken in building the sets, filming them with a miniature studio, and scaling them via computer. Theres ample detail in the colors and textures of the art to fascinate curious kids (and even adults), and the art style is a welcome departure from typical illustrations in picture books.
I'd recommend this for a fun story time or bedtime read for littles who love farm animals or have questioned the difference between chicken/turkey.
The artwork is what really captivated me, and the title page notes that the authors created the characters from felted-wool, feathers, polymer clay, and hand-sewn outfits and the miniature sets from found and constructed objects. Each page of the book is vibrantly colored and shows the care taken in building the sets, filming them with a miniature studio, and scaling them via computer. Theres ample detail in the colors and textures of the art to fascinate curious kids (and even adults), and the art style is a welcome departure from typical illustrations in picture books.
I'd recommend this for a fun story time or bedtime read for littles who love farm animals or have questioned the difference between chicken/turkey.
November 20, 2021
I read this book to 2nd to 4th grade students. For some reason, this book was a hit with the 3rd graders. The book is filled with cheesy puns on every page! The kids loved counting and debating how many puns are actually in it!
A fun story about Lance the turkey who is new in town and invited to a fabulous feast. He meets all of the chickens who work at or patrons of the “Chic Hen” a beauty salon for chickens.
Trouble and drama ensues when Beauty(the owner of the Chic Hen)finds out that the feast that Lance is invited to is serving turkey with chestnut stuffing! “WATTLE I DO” cries Lance! “I am about to EGGspire!” LoL!
Beauty and all of the hens “hatch” a plan to save Lance from being a cooked goose!
I love that the illustrations are actual puppets that the creators made themselves and took pictures of for each page. I think that made the story more fun.
Bottom line: 2nd and 3rd graders enjoyed it. Fourth graders rolled their eyes through most of it(but I think some thought it was fun)
A fun story about Lance the turkey who is new in town and invited to a fabulous feast. He meets all of the chickens who work at or patrons of the “Chic Hen” a beauty salon for chickens.
Trouble and drama ensues when Beauty(the owner of the Chic Hen)finds out that the feast that Lance is invited to is serving turkey with chestnut stuffing! “WATTLE I DO” cries Lance! “I am about to EGGspire!” LoL!
Beauty and all of the hens “hatch” a plan to save Lance from being a cooked goose!
I love that the illustrations are actual puppets that the creators made themselves and took pictures of for each page. I think that made the story more fun.
Bottom line: 2nd and 3rd graders enjoyed it. Fourth graders rolled their eyes through most of it(but I think some thought it was fun)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews