Chicken Cheeks (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Kevin Hawkes (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A bear's inspired idea to create a tower of animals in order to reach some honey is all the premise that Hawkes (Library Lion) and debut author Black need to launch an encyclopedia of animal posteriors. As the tower grows, readers learn that, in Hawkes and Black's alternative universe, a duck's rear end may be a tail, but a moose has a caboose, a turkey has a tushy, and a toucan a can. Hawkes's cast runs the gamut of goofy expressions; this smorgasbord of demeanors, coupled with the sheer improbability of the tower (the rhinoceros and giraffe are stacked upside-down on top of a very spindly flamingo), make this a surefire crowd-pleaser. The tower is finally undone by the stinger on a bumblebee, but not before readers' vocabularies have been boosted by 16 ways to refer to buttocks. And if that's not an example of literature enriching our lives, what is? Ages 3–7. (Jan.)
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From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1—As every parent and teacher knows, little kids giggle over rear ends-and Chicken Cheeks is sure to keep them laughing. It features the hind quarters of animals, complete with silly names for them, from beginning to—well—end: "rhinoceros rump," "penguin patootie," "polar bear derriere," "turkey tushy." The close-up, color-saturated illustrations—which are at the same time obviously hilarious and sneakily deadpan—tell a story. A brown bear stands poised atop a ladder, gazing thoughtfully up the skinny trunk of a tall, branch-free tree. He grabs a duck and sets it on his head. As he does, readers get an eyeful of the duck's rear; the accompanying text merely says "duck tail." Somehow a huge moose finds itself perched on top of the duck's head: "moose caboose." When a chicken precariously clasps the moose's antlers and proceeds to lay an egg on its nose, only the bear is smiling. Credibility is suspended by the time the moose sits on the duck without squashing it. Sixteen animals later, children can only laugh helplessly at the absurd ladder of animals balanced parallel to the tree trunk. By then they're able to see what the bear was trying to do-and how it backfires. Filled with visual jokes and amusing details, Chicken Cheeks is a lot more than a list of words for kids to snicker at.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416948643
• ISBN-13: 978-1416948643
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,939 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very "cheeky" book!, January 21, 2009

By	J. Villeneuve "jayvil" (Newtown, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Two things save this book from being a complete waste of time:
1) The illustrations are GREAT! I mean they are 90% of the book so if they weren't great I'm sure this book never would have been published.
2) Kids love butts (or bums, rears, etc.)! At least mine do. They think they are hilarious and this taps into that in a harmless way.

I can't proclaim this to be the best book, or even a book for everyone, but it is cute. You can read the book in about 2 minutes though so it gets old fast - but here's a tip: Look for the ants on every page. There are 2 of them on each page (except for the first page and one other). The ants end up winning out in this story and you have to look closely to find out how. That makes the book "last" a little longer.

Don't look for any profound messages here...just enjoy the silliness!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very cute little book, January 20, 2009

By	Bryan Newman "alaskanoutfitting.com" (St Paul, MN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This book will probably never come close to being a classic, but it was worth it to hear the giggling as our oldest son read this to his little brother. He has even brought it out to read to a couple of friends and relatives. The art work and creative use of backside slang is sure to be a hit with youngsters.

The story is pretty spare - no great morals, just a small twist at the end. It's more of a premise to set up a list of rhyming or alliterative animal/keister descriptions. It's a little sophomoric, but it's a kids book and works.

The artwork is playful and appropriate for kids. If there is anything offensive it would be a little hygeinic brinkmanship. We are talking butts here. But it is tasteful.

Just a fun little book which may not end up being read over and over at bedtime, but will elicit giggles.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't want to give it a bum rap, butt..., November 12, 2009

By	C. Thorpe (Lincoln, Mass., USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's a fun book. Kids of a particular age love that part of the body. The illustrations are fun, and the "plot" is clever enough.

I give it 3 stars because there just isn't that much intellectual content, and even young kids can enjoy books with something more than a bunch of smelly animals' rear ends on top of each other. (At least he didn't include a donkey's, well, you know...) I found it clever but just not enough words to be memorable.

My favorites were Dr. Seuss, Wanda Gág, Eric Carle, Richard Scarry, Angela Banner, not to mention Edward Lear thrown in for good measure. "Dare I err" on the side of overly critical? I think they had a lot more going on than this book. That said, lest I rumple any feathers, I will buttress the book's reputation if I can - the illustrations are of a rear quality and I could definitely be behind the decision to grab it.