I begin a new series of reviews on books entitled "Books I Wish I Had Written". While I was writing in the picture book marathon in February, I read lots of picture books to keep my mind in the "picture book mode." I came across quite a few books that I thought were utterly brilliant and I wish I had written. I will feature them and more as I come across them.
Chicken Cheeks
Written by Michael Ian Black
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Simon & Schuster, 2009
My ten-month-old was fighting a nap. I sat down with a pile of picture books I had requested from the library. He loves to listen and look at the pictures of books. In fact, he gets down right vocally angry if you leave him out of a book. If my daughter and I are reading a book, he will crawl over and grunt and make loud noises until we let him in.
Chicken Cheeks was next in the pile. I hate chickens. They are my one intense fear in life. I'll save my sob story of roosters clawing at my legs and leaving welps for another time when we talk about why I'm scarred for life over chickens.
But I was willing to give Chicken Cheeks a chance because the cover is so darn funny. Really funny. And my son was enthralled with the bright colors.
This book is HILARIOUS--LMBO hilarious!!!! It's all about BUTTS of animals, but not in explicit detail. In fact you will never find the word BUTT in the book. Instead you see "moose caboose" and "toucan can" and "flamingo fanny" among others. In this 43 word picture book, you will probably read nearly every CLEAN word for butt you can think of. All paired with Kevin Hawkes bright, silly animal illustrations.
This book has to go back to the library soon because I owe nearly $30 in fines for overdue books. But, my little ten-month-old, who kept pointing and smiling at EVERY picture will probably find his very own copy of this book in his Easter basket.
WHY I WISH I HAD WRITTEN IT:
It's brilliant. It's short. It's funny. ALL IN ONE BOOK!
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