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Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken | 
| Author: Kate Dicamillo
Creator: Harry Bliss
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $10.08
You Save: $7.91 (44%)
New (48) Used (12) Collectible (1) from $10.08
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 21126
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 56
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 10.2 x 0.2
ISBN: 0060755547
EAN: 9780060755546
ASIN: 0060755547
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
pShe longed for adventure. /p pSo she left her home and ventured out into the wide world./p pThe pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar./p pYet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine . . ./p pShe was brave./p pShe was fearless./p pShe was feathered./p pShe was a chicken./p pA not-so-chicken chicken./p pHer name?/p p align="left" span class="h1"strongA Look Inside iLouise: The Adventures of a Chicken/i/strong/span b(Click on Images to Enlarge)/bbr /ppptable width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" tr align="center" valign="top" class="tiny" td width="50%" img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper-gms/Louise1-Small.jpg" border="0" /td td width="50%" img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper-gms/Loiuse2-Small.jpg" border="0"/td /tr tr align="center" valign="top" class="tiny" td width="50%"Louise Meets Some Pirates/td td width="50%"Louise Meets a Fortune Teller/td /tr /table p align=left span class="h1"strongQuestions for Kate DiCamillo/strong/span p img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper-gms/kate120.jpg" border="0" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right" pbAmazon.com:/b Tell us about Louise--how is she so brave? What do you do when you#x2019;re feeling a little bit chicken? pbKate Dicamillo:/b When I think of Louise, the words that come to mind are insouciant and unflappable. I suppose that when all is said and done, she is brave. But she's also kind of, um, *clueless.* As for me, when I am feeling afraid, I squawk and flap my wings and run around in circles and then I go ahead and try to do the thing that I'm pretty sure I can't do. pbAmazon.com:/b I know pirates don't keep very good records, but have you found any historical evidence of chickens adventuring with pirates? pbDicamillo:/b Yes, it's true, pirates don't keep great records. But there are several diaries of chickens that have survived through the ages and they paint a quite colorful (and detailed (and sometimes horrifiying)) picture of the many adventures that chickens have had with pirates. I refererred to these diaries when I was doing my research. They were written in chicken scratch; it was slow going. pbAmazon.com:/b If Louise, Despereaux, and Mercy Watson went on an adventure together, what do you think would happen? pbDicamillo:/b Wow, there's a picture . . . let's see. I can envision Louise standing on Mercy's back and Despereaux perched on Louise's head. *Anything* could happen, I suppose. And would. But I'm sure that whatever happened, it would involve toast, hot air balloons, cluelessness and Despereaux ultimately saving the day. pbAmazon.com:/b This is your first collaboration with Harry Bliss. Did you have his style in mind when you wrote the story, or did you join up with him afterward? pbDicamillo:/b When I wrote Louise, I didn't have a particular illustrator in mind. But the chicken (the whole world!) that Harry has brought to life in this book has delighted and humbled me. He's a genius. pbAmazon.com:/b You've written award-winning books for kids of every age. Do you tell a different kind of story for each age, or do you think all kids find the same elements appealing? pbDicamillo:/b I don't think about what age the story is for or who or why. I just try to tell a story that makes me happy, one that makes me laugh, or cry; I try to tell a story that makes me glad to be here. pKate DiCamillo is the acclaimed author of many books for young readers, including iThe Tale of Despereaux/i, winner of the Newbery Medal; iBecause of Winn-Dixie/i, a Newbery Honor Book; and iThe Tiger Rising/i, a National Book Award finalist. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota./p
Product Description
pShe longed for adventure. /p pSo she left her home and ventured out into the wide world./p pThe pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar./p pYet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine . . ./p pShe was brave./p pShe was fearless./p pShe was feathered./p pShe was a chicken./p pA not-so-chicken chicken./p pHer name?/p
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 What a disappointment! November 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have been a huge DiCamillo fan for many years but, Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken is a huge disappointment. The book reads like a choppy, dry, disjointed work produced by a middle schooler. Please stick to your beautiful and well-developed chapter books, Ms. DiCamillo.
 A goofy book October 24, 2008
Reviewed by Simon Smith (age 9) for Reader Views (10/08)br / br /I think you would really enjoy this book because it is a unique story. It is a large picture book with small but exciting chapters. The endpapers have a beautiful gold and white plant design. The artwork is very good and looks half realistic--faces are one of the artist's strengths. br /br /Louise has three adventures: one at sea with pirates, one in the circus, and one in India. In chapter two, which is called "Louise Up High," Louise sneaks off to the circus and gets a job as a tightrope walker. While she is walking the wire, she almost falls into a lion's mouth, but flaps away just before it eats her. Then she hides in a clown's hat until it is safe. br /br /One interesting thing is that in the middle of the book the author put the book sideways because the scene was so high when Louise was on the high wire. The book ends with Louise back at home telling all of the other chickens about her adventures. The book teaches that you think adventures are fun before they happen, but when they happen, they actually aren't. Louise almost gets eaten in each adventure but somehow escapes. I think the final adventure put an end to her wanting to have adventures because she was able to help other chickens to be free. br /br /The back cover of the book has a quote from Emily Dickinson saying, "Hope is the thing with feathers . . ." I think the author put that there because it means that Louise had hope enough to get her home. I really liked this book because the artwork really catches your eye and the story drifts you in as if it were real life. Louise is crazy to go on all of these adventures. A good audience for this book would be boys and girls, ages four and up, and any kind of kid who likes adventures and made-up stories.br /br /My favorite part of the book was when Louise is in the clown's hat, hiding from a lion. "Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken" by Kate DiCamillo is so good that I wouldn't change anything. even if I could.br /br /
 A Kate DiCamillo Book for Younger Children October 19, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
In this book Kate DiCamillo -- Newbery Winner and National Book Award finalist -- joins forces with Harry Bliss -- award winning illustrator of "Diary of a Worm" and the New Yorker magazine-- to produce a lighthearted book about a hen that longs for adventure, and gets it!br /br /Those familiar with Kate DiCamillo know that while her books appear to be fables for young children, that they often have a dark side that makes them better targeted to the middle school and up crowd. With "Louise" however, there was only one grim moment, where a pirate was sucked down into the ocean, and it was handled well enough that I had no problem reading this book to my 6 year old son and his older sister.br /br /As for the message, I would say that there were two. The first is that while adventure is exciting and interesting, that it is equally wonderful to be safe at home with your family and friends. The second message is not going to be something that children as young as mine are going to fully understand: it's the assertion that reading and hearing about an adventure is as good as living it.br /br /4.5 Stars. My children LOVED this book. They thought the story was great, and they howled with laughter at some of Louise' antics; although there are assuredly some references, like the one to Bogart and the African Queen, that only adults will get. br /br /Pam T~br /mom and reviewer for BooksforKids-Reviews.com
She longed for adventure. October 4, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
When you're young, it still feels like anything can and might happen to you. Adventures peek out from under the horizon, big and fantastical ones that could make you feel more in control of your own destiny, more seasoned as a person, or like you're having more fun than you would be just sitting at home.br /br /Louise is like that. She's a chicken who wants to experience "true adventure" and leaves home to discover what it really is. Her adventures are familiar in theory (pirates, the circus, faraway lands) and yet full of the unexpected when actually realized. There are dark moments and funny ones, often on the same page and in both the text and illustrations. The reader is privy to an understated version of the emotions and thoughts that run through Louise's mind as she seeks out "true adventure". Without a lot of exclamation points and hardly any exposition, Louise's story is quietly satisfying.
 Stick with writing chapter books October 3, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
After Edward Tulane, DiCamillo's work has not been that great. Like she's in a churning-it-out slump. DiCamillo's been aided by wonderful illustrators for her picture books, but Louise (like Great Joy and the Mercy Watson series) is not the best picture book that has ever come along. After being on display in my school library for over a week, it still hasn't been checked out. Edward and Despereaux have been checked out. Stick with writing books of substance with characters of substance, like Edward, and Despereaux, and Winn-Dixie, and Tiger Rising. There's a reason why some of those books are award-winning books and the picture books are not.
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