Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken

Lousie, The Adventures of a Chicken

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: Grades K-4

Year Published: 2009

Summary

Louise the chicken sets off for adventure to encounter the world. She is captured by pirates, decides it join a circus, and narrowly escapes being a lion’s meal. She is abducted at a foreign bazaar, but luckily escapes. After each escapade, she goes back to her henhouse to enjoy the relaxing features of her home life. After her last journey, she relays her tale to her sisters, who are captivated and astonished by her story. Louise comes to the realization that she can continue her adventures through storytelling

About the Author

Instead of writing my own version of a biography of Kate DiCamillo, I found her own description (taken from her website) to be very meaningful. I couldn't write a better one!

"I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, raised in Clermont, Florida, and currently live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I write for both children and adults and I like to think of myself as a storyteller.

Here are a few more facts about me: I am short. And loud. I hate to cook and love to eat. I am single and childless, but I have lots of friends and I am an aunt to three lovely children (Luke, Roxanne, and Max) and one not so lovely dog (Henry).

I think of myself as an enormously lucky person: I get to tell stories for a living."

Source: http://www.katedicamillo.com/about.html

How to Use it

This book is about adventure. Clearly, because the title says so. This book can best be used by capturing children's imaginations, and taking them on their own adventure within the book. 

Pre-Reading: Show the cover and title of the book to the class. Have each student sit with their reading partner, and discuss with their partner what they think is going to happen in the story, just based off of what they see in the story. Have some students share their predictions. Then, discuss as a class the following question.. "What is an adventure?"

Post-Reading: I think that this story can be used as an avenue for students to practice retelling. There are so many significant events that happen in a certain order in the book, and this is great for retelling in a primary classroom. Using either pictures on the smart board, or chart paper, work with the class to retell the story. You can also use the story to launch a writing unit where the students write their own adventure stories.

What do I Think?

I really enjoyed this book. I have not used it in my own classroom, but when we begin to practice retelling, I know that this book will make an appearance. Also, it is a fantastic story in and of itself. As a basic read-aloud, I think that all kids would enjoy it!!