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The Fairest Fowl: Portraits of Championship Chickens
Chickens are bewitching lush plumage, gleaming feathers, perfect thighs. But few meet the standard of perfection of the American poultry show, the beauty pageant of the barnyard and the true test of poultry pulchritude. In The Fairest Fowl , photographer Tamara Staples celebrates the champions of the chicken world at their best. Dozens of stunning portraits capture the quirky personality and undeniable grace of these noble birds as you've never seen them before. Location photography of the shows, details of the judging process, strategies from poultry farmers, and profiles of each prize breed set the scene and offer insight for the discerning chicken aficionado. And an appreciation of Staples' photography by public radio's Ira Glass of This American Life explores the finer points of chicken portraiture. Finally, chickens receive the respect they're due.
108 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Ira Glass
28 books301 followersIra Glass is an American public radio personality, and host and producer of the radio and television show This American Life.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews
February 4, 2017
I live in an urban situation, but neighbors in back of me and to the side have pet chickens, and their gentle cackles provide rural background noise to my days. This book features gorgeous portraits of award winning examples of my feathered neighbors, and almost make me feel guilty when frying or chomping down on edible portions of their anatomy.
May 19, 2008
I have one of these chickens permanently embedded in my skin.
March 10, 2026
The gorgeous chicken on the front caught my eye, and then my brain caught up to the insanely clever title, and I couldn’t not check this out. A large part of my interested was driven by vicarious curiosity - my sister keeps chickens, and I thought she would enjoy the professional shoots of the various breeds (she did). But the passion of the people who show chickens, and the clear admiration of the photographer, were enough to make me go through the whole book. This was a brief and mildly interesting toe-dip into the world of poultry fancy. An entertaining 30 minutes.
January 17, 2021
Lovely pictures of chickens, most you have probably never seen before.
April 13, 2025
April 2025: I picked The Fairest Fowl up from the library again . . . for the same reason, but with a vague recollection that I'd read it before. Shocking no one, I remembered very little about the book, and the transcript/essay at the back was as fresh and new as if I'd never lold at it before.
I'd give it four stars this time around—I think the info that accompanies each photo could be a little more engaging and I found myself skimming those pages, and I promise it was NOT because I remembered all the chicken facts—but I still had a lot of fun paging through the excellent photos. The fluffy chickens! Those feathered feet! The chicken with the super tall tail feather and short lil legs! Ugh. So good.
*************
May 2012: Chickens! Let me show you them.
The Fairest Fowl is a collection of photos of championship chickens, taken by Tamara Staples; each chicken is accompanied by a page devoted to its breed's vital stats and info about the judging process, and there are some general photos from poultry shows mixed in there, too. At the very end is my favorite part, an essay (which was originally a bit for "This American Life") by Ira Glass about Staples's chicken-photography process.
I initially checked this book out to see if it would help me figure out what kind of chickens we have, but it wasn't really useful for that, since most of the chickens in The Fairest Fowl are more interesting breeds than ours: feathered feet! Chickens that look like boxers! Chickens that look like piles of silky wigs!
The chicken photos are definitely worth a look, and I really enjoyed the smart sense of humor evident throughout the book. Who knew a book solely about chickens could be pretty AND funny? I liked this one.
A bird turns its head for an instant at a certain angle or a bird squints his eyes at the camera, and for a moment through the camera lens, to a human, it looks like recognizable personality, emotion. But really it's just a chicken. And watching, I think I begin to understand why the people who breed birds have no interest in photos that show chickens' true personalities. It is because in their true personalities, chickens are kind of a pain in the ass. They may be capable of affection or loyalty or maybe even pride, but if so, they feel these feelings in an ancient and bird-like way, like glassy-eyed visitors from another world.
I'd give it four stars this time around—I think the info that accompanies each photo could be a little more engaging and I found myself skimming those pages, and I promise it was NOT because I remembered all the chicken facts—but I still had a lot of fun paging through the excellent photos. The fluffy chickens! Those feathered feet! The chicken with the super tall tail feather and short lil legs! Ugh. So good.
*************
May 2012: Chickens! Let me show you them.
The Fairest Fowl is a collection of photos of championship chickens, taken by Tamara Staples; each chicken is accompanied by a page devoted to its breed's vital stats and info about the judging process, and there are some general photos from poultry shows mixed in there, too. At the very end is my favorite part, an essay (which was originally a bit for "This American Life") by Ira Glass about Staples's chicken-photography process.
I initially checked this book out to see if it would help me figure out what kind of chickens we have, but it wasn't really useful for that, since most of the chickens in The Fairest Fowl are more interesting breeds than ours: feathered feet! Chickens that look like boxers! Chickens that look like piles of silky wigs!
The chicken photos are definitely worth a look, and I really enjoyed the smart sense of humor evident throughout the book. Who knew a book solely about chickens could be pretty AND funny? I liked this one.
December 28, 2014
Well aren't these the prettiest little chickens you ever did see? Makes you want to set up your own little chicken farm and have some of these lovelies laying eggs for you or just making your back yard a fowl place.
June 7, 2008
The photos are great, and the essay by Ira Glass is really funny. Are chickens dumb? Are chickens smart? No, they're .. just chickens.
January 13, 2014
A picture book about fancy breeds of chickens...really. I don't know what I thought it was going to be. Nice chicken photos?
December 27, 2010
GORGEOUS PICS!
June 28, 2018
This book is absolutely wonderful! Not only does it contain beautiful, professional photographs of various breeds of chicken, but it also provides a fair bit of information about each breed. It begins with an essay by Ira Glass and leads into The World of Championship Chickens, with quotes from poultry fanciers, a listing of chicken breeds, and a handful of diagrams on physical features of a chicken that can make or break their championship career.
There is also an entire section on the American Standard of Perfection, what is considered the bible of show chickens. The rest of the book consists of elegant portraits of chickens against complimentary backdrops. Alas, this is no ordinary "coffee table" book, as it provides the name and description, the origin, standard weights, feather pattern, color pallet, AND the date of admittance to the Standard of Perfection for each bird. HIT ME WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE! Please find below a selection of a few of my favorite show chickens from this book:
The New Hampshire Bantam Cockerel:
The Dominique Large Fowl Cock:
Bearded Buff Laced Polish Large Fowl Hen:
Beautiful. Just gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed flipping through this book and learning the life of a poultry fancier. I have taken notes, and I look forward to the day I own a piece of suburbia large enough to accommodate a healthy brood of beautiful chickens to delicately care for and present at the admiration of those who appreciate the magnificence of this bird.
In closing:
Dat. Ass.
There is also an entire section on the American Standard of Perfection, what is considered the bible of show chickens. The rest of the book consists of elegant portraits of chickens against complimentary backdrops. Alas, this is no ordinary "coffee table" book, as it provides the name and description, the origin, standard weights, feather pattern, color pallet, AND the date of admittance to the Standard of Perfection for each bird. HIT ME WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE! Please find below a selection of a few of my favorite show chickens from this book:
The New Hampshire Bantam Cockerel:
The Dominique Large Fowl Cock:
Bearded Buff Laced Polish Large Fowl Hen:
Beautiful. Just gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed flipping through this book and learning the life of a poultry fancier. I have taken notes, and I look forward to the day I own a piece of suburbia large enough to accommodate a healthy brood of beautiful chickens to delicately care for and present at the admiration of those who appreciate the magnificence of this bird.
In closing:
Dat. Ass.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews