The Chicken Gave it to Me

The Chicken Gave it to Me

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A thought provoking tale of animal welfare for your children. Sep 15, Christina rated it it was amazing.

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I think that this fable is incredibly exciting and engaging for middle aged children, therefore it would be ideal for story-time because it is likely to open the possibilities for discussions. I also think it would be a great book to set tasks for the children and incorporate Harrowing Farm into their art lessons by maybe getting them to do illustrations similar to the ones inside the book, or even have a school trip to a local farm. I think the authors use of language is very descriptive and ca I think that this fable is incredibly exciting and engaging for middle aged children, therefore it would be ideal for story-time because it is likely to open the possibilities for discussions.

I think the authors use of language is very descriptive and can get the children's imaginations ticking, 'try to imagine, first how it felt' p. The chicken had never been outside before and describes how silly and 'chicken dippy' it went when faced with this new sense of freedom. This can encourage the children to reflect on an experience they may have encountered that was thrilling for them and caused their behaviour to be silly. The chicken refers to itself as 'feather brained' these are great ways to introduce the use of metaphorical language in children's books.

When the chicken stumbles across the spaceship and discovers that the two little green men are plotting to eat humans it really makes you think about the food chain and why it has become acceptable for humans to eat animals but yet it wouldn't be acceptable for aliens to eat humans.

The humans claim to be superior to animals such as 'chickens and pigs' but the aliens respond by saying they do not consider humans to be superior and say 'the only thing you lot really had going for you was that you ran the whole planet'. This gives children the opportunity to think of our powers as humans and think about the responsibilities we have to ensure that we do not take the planet for granted, as it is in our control.

It triggers the children to think about where meat comes from and the characters in the book reflect meat eaters and non-meat eaters.

The character Vinit has never been a meat eater, therefore it teaches children about peoples different beliefs regarding vegetarianism. This book cleverly reverses roles of putting humans into cages ready to be eaten, which really makes the reader think, is it morally right to keep chicken's in cages prior to slaughtering them and eating them? The tables are turned, and do any of you have the guts to face the fact you're getting no worse than you gave out?

Andrew another one of the characters explains that he would happily eat the meat if he knew that it had lived a happy life before it was slaughtered. This is something that has also made me think about the eat that I consume, and I agree with Andrew. From this day forward, I will be making a conscious effort to eat free range chicken, because I understood the moral of the fable.

THE CHICKEN GAVE IT TO ME

Gemma joins in with Andrew suggesting that she wouldn't mind being eaten if she had been given the opportunity to live her life to the fullest before being eaten and if it was done in a fair procedure. At the very end of the book Andrew and Gemma go off singing ''Let your chickens run around! Eggs are tastier if they can't be found" this explains that there is nothing wrong with eating fresh chicken eggs and chickens but it is our responsibility as human beings to ensure that we think about where we are getting our meat from and the effects that our actions have on our food chain.

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Mar 09, Carmen rated it liked it Shelves: I was surprised to discover this book about the rights of chickens on the shelf in my school library. It's not great, but it covers a topic that most kids are completely unaware of in a relatively accessible way. Andrew and Gemma read a book written by a chicken about an alien invasion. The aliens happen to liberate egg-laying chickens so they can repurpose the cages to take some humans home for food.

The jump from laying hens to broiler chickens wasn't clearly or accurately explained. It seemed a little farfetched for the kids to understand without it being explained to them that hens raised for their eggs are also processed into chicken meat, but misleading as well because the conditions for broiler chickens are pretty different from layers, though both situations are awful.

This book is described as a "humorous story" in the CIP. I really didn't find it funny at all. It was perhaps outlandish from some perspectives, but the odd approach to dealing with this horrific topic didn't make it any funnier or any less chilling.

The aliens were eventually won over to the perspective of the chicken that we should treat animals that we're raising for food humanely so that they live happy lives. Putting in terms of "as long as the people have happy lives, it's perfectly okay if they get eaten at the end" really showed me how preposterous this perspective is unless you really don't value individual lives human or non-human. The kids in the story both decided that they'd be perfectly fine being eaten, as long as they first got to live happy lives.

I don't want to be eaten, ever. I don't think it's okay to raise people or any other animal as long as they get to be happy along the way, so that one day we can kill them for food. If the author had used humor to expose the hypocrisy of this stance, maybe this could have passed as a humorous story. But instead it just felt like the author was afraid to take too strong a stance and make readers feel uncomfortable about what they eat. May 01, Rebecca Andrews rated it liked it. Together the child read the book throughout the school day.

The story book is told by the chicken, firstly him explaining how badly they were treated by the humans in their cages. However, aliens then invade and free the chickens, instead they lock up the humans. At the end of the school day the children go to the farm, but only find empty cages. They are inspired by the fact that one chicken managed to close down one farm then humans should be able to close down other harrowing farms.

The book also allowed children to create their own endings to the story as it was very imaginative. The blurb and front cover provided interesting discussion and many possible ideas were created. The book offers lots of descriptive words to increase children's vocabulary. May 30, Angela Tuson rated it it was amazing Shelves: Imagine if aliens came to Earth and treated humans the way humans treat battery hens?

If you were a hen recently freed by aliens would you leave the humans to become roast dinners for aliens after all, they'd been doing it to you , or would you try to inform the consumer aliens what the farmer aliens were doing after all, hens are not bound by human's lack of feeling? This the dilemma facing the heroic hen of the title. What she does may not surprise you - but the WAY she does it will! A tru Imagine if aliens came to Earth and treated humans the way humans treat battery hens?

A truly unusual read, sad as well as funny, always delightful. It may well get children asking some of the same questions as the kids in the book: A treat of a book! Jun 27, K. Carters rated it it was amazing. I know Anne Fine through Tulip Touch -a very dark book that was geared towards teenage readers. I picked this book up as the title threw me a little. It's brilliant and deserves to be more famous. This reverses battery hens on their head It did feel slightly preachy at times but it was so brilliant to read it and hear the kids arguing about how they would want to be eaten.

Log in or Register. Suitable for 7 - 11 years.

'The Chicken Gave It to Me'

More books for 7 - 11 year olds. It is an epic tale of cruelty and bravery: Speaking about her work, Anne says: I believe that many personal decisions have a social or political resonance, and the way people try to pick their way through tricky family situations interests me. So since I write for the reader inside myself, I always end up with the kind of book I would have loved to read if only someone else had bothered to write for me.

I think I must have thought that books were born on the library shelves. But I was good at writing stories, and I had a good deal of practice. That meant there was no room for English, and so for my whole life I have been able simply to read what I want when I want, and only for pleasure or interest. I suspect that this has been really important for the way I write, making it so much easier to think always of the reader. I studied Politics and History at University, and the interest in political issues shows up in many of the books.

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