(2) K-3 Illustrated by Pete Oswald. A chicken crosses the road, crosses paths with a truck, and gets to..."THE OTHER SIDE"--the afterlife, that is. The neon-blue shadow of Chicken's former self learns about what's next from new companions, other undead animals. "It's time to get foul, fowl!" these mischief-makers gleefully state. Against the digital illustrations' midnight-dark backgrounds, the brightly colored poltergeists' silliness should prevent young readers from feeling too "weak in the beak" (as a ghostly former-rat puts it). So should Chicken's sentiment: "I don't want to haunt anyone, especially not innocent readers..." It's hard to feel chicken when a book is this clucking hilarious.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021