Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Chicken Scratches: Chicken Rhymes and Poultry Poetry

Rate this book
As adorably absurd as chickens themselves, this book of charming illustrations and laugh-out-loud funny poultry poems will appeal to anyone with a fowl sense of humor!

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Loading...
Loading...

About the author

Lynn Brunelle

66 books12 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
21 (23%)
4 stars
28 (31%)
3 stars
24 (27%)
2 stars
13 (14%)
1 star
2 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
2,261 reviews25 followers
April 20, 2018
Funny poems for children about chickens.
8 reviews
April 15, 2020
This poetry book is hilarious and I would love to use it in my third or fourth grade classroom! The book is a collection of silly rhymes about different chickens and encourages students that everyone is different and that it is okay to be different!

I would use this book as a vocabulary learning session and a read aloud book. Students would identify words they did not know and create a short presentation such as a google slide to identify the word, identify a word that rhymes with it, and use it in a sentence. They would also create a short poem that uses that word in it. Another lesson I would love to use this book for is to discuss individuality and differences. All of the chickens have something different about them that makes them unique. After reading this book each student would create their own poem about what makes them unique to post outside of the classroom or on the walls. Each student will have their picture taken (as long as it is approved) and draw their own chicken body on their head to go along with their story!

This was a WOW book for me because it definitely made me laugh and I could easily see students becoming highly invested in the book and coming up with some really creative poems themselves!
Profile Image for Bethe.
7,020 reviews70 followers
March 27, 2019
Just as I was despairing of finding one poem about a chicken (to match my lower grade read aloud for first week of April) I find a whole book of them! That deserves an extra star! And a bonus - it includes the classic taunt: Guess what? Chicken butt!
Profile Image for Jocelyn  Hanan .
56 reviews
May 25, 2017
Confusing, doesnt make much sense to me, also a child could easily use it as a coloring book
61 reviews
March 23, 2017
This book is so funny. The illustrations are so adorable. Kids will absolutely love this book. It is a poetry book that is made up of funny things chickens do. The artwork really makes the poems come to life.
51 reviews
February 23, 2017
Lynn Brunelle's silly book of poultry poetry was a fun read. It combined different types of poetry into a single book, educating the reader without doing so in a boring way. I thought it was a fine idea to teach about the different types of poetry by using a beloved animal, the chicken. This will draw kids in and entice them, wanting to read the book. The illustrations were fun, festive, and very appealing to the eye.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kayla Spires.
53 reviews
March 18, 2017
Using bright, simple illustrations, and a rhyming pattern, Brunelle creates a humorous book of poems about chickens laying odd eggs. The plump little chickens scurrying around could make for a fun read-aloud with elementary students, for the illustrations and rhythm really capture everyone's attention. I'm not sure, however, how this book could be used to teach.
Profile Image for Robert Beveridge.
2,402 reviews199 followers
August 8, 2011
Lynn Brunelle and George Shannon, Chicken Scratches: Poultry Poetry and Rooster Rhymes (Chronicle Books, 2010)

Chicken-related silliness for the preschool set that is, for the most part, good stuff. Every once in a while, the poetry derails itself something fierce:

“We chickens are a time trip,
we're visions from the past—
we're living, breathing relatives
of creatures long, long past.”
(“Time Traveler”)

(Good if you're teaching repetition, but not so at all if you're teaching poetry; there are few things more annoying to a poet's ear than the laziness of using repetition in place of rhyme.)

...but if you're willing to pick and choose what you relate to the kids you'll be reading this to, there's some fun stuff here, some of which is just scurrilous enough to appeal to the rowdier elements in kids' natures, and some of which is straight-up educational. Pick it up from the library and give it a look before deciding whether you want to add it to your permanent collection. ***
52 reviews
Read
November 24, 2015
Title: Chicken Scratches: Chicken Rhymes and Poultry Poetry
Author: Lynn Brunelle
Publisher and Date:Chronicle Books, 2010

In this poem book, several chickens get into funny situations and lay weird eggs. As adorably absurd as chickens themselves, this book of charming illustrations and laugh-out-loud funny poultry poems will appeal to anyone with a fowl sense of humor! This attractive volume features 16 wacky rhyming verses. The somewhat irreverent poems include odes to imagined daily lives of opera-singing and sumo-wrestling chickens to complex egg laying and eating.

Activity: You can sit the students in a circle and hold a discussion. Ask them which key characters they remember and what happened to those characters. They could also use arts and crafts and recreate major events that came from the poem book.
40 reviews2 followers
Read
November 28, 2015
In this poem book, several chickens get into funny situations and lay weird eggs. As adorably absurd as chickens themselves, this book of charming illustrations and laugh-out-loud funny poultry poems will appeal to anyone with a fowl sense of humor! This attractive volume features 16 wacky rhyming verses. The somewhat irreverent poems include odes to imagined daily lives of opera-singing and sumo-wrestling chickens to complex egg laying and eating.

Activity: You can sit the students in a circle and hold a discussion. Ask them which key characters they remember and what happened to those characters. They could also use arts and crafts and recreate major events that came from the poem book.
52 reviews
September 3, 2015
In this poem book, several chickens get into funny situations and lay weird eggs.
Using GA standard ELAGSEKRL3; ( With prompting and support, identify characters,settings,
and major events in a story) you can read this poem book in the classroom.

You can sit the students in a circle and hold a discussion. Ask them which key characters they remember and what happened to those characters. They could also use arts and crafts and recreate major events that came from the poem book.
55 reviews
November 23, 2015
In this poem book, several chickens get into funny situations and lay weird eggs.
You can sit the students in a circle and hold a discussion. Ask them which key characters they remember and what happened to those characters. They could also use arts and crafts and recreate major events that came from the poem book.
Profile Image for Leslie Rendon.
60 reviews
December 6, 2016
The book is a poem of chickens who lay weird eggs. There are humorous jokes about it and the illustrations will make someone giggle. I think this would be good to keep a child entertained because they will find it funny instead of boring! Short text. Good to read together.
#YoungReaders #Humorous #Chickens #Poem
Profile Image for Gwen the Librarian.
799 reviews51 followers
October 4, 2010
This is an utterly charming collection of poultry-themed poetry - very short poems with fun and perfectly matched illustrations. You could share these poems with children of all ages; there is something for everyone.
Profile Image for Maggi Rohde.
922 reviews16 followers
April 26, 2015
This is a funny book of poetry about chickens. I wasn't sure if a funny book of poetry about chickens would be actually worth reading, but it is. It's perfectly pitched toward young children's sense of humor, with a clever edge of wordplay.
Profile Image for Marsha.
319 reviews5 followers
January 27, 2011
Super funny, short little poetry book with great illustrations. I laughed out loud on some of the poems and pictures. Right before I read this I read a picture book with the title Chicken Butt--I think that added to the fun of it all. :)
Profile Image for Kelly.
Author 5 books8 followers
April 8, 2010
Clever, creative, funny and fresh as a new-laid egg, this book of chicken-related poems entertains from start to finish, accompanied by excellent, adorable illustrations worth clucking about.
Profile Image for Lupine.
640 reviews2 followers
February 9, 2011
Do you love chickens? Like funny poetry? This is the book for you! Perfect read-aloud with poultry inspired poems that everyone will enjoy!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews