I Once Had a Chicken

Her name was Chirplet. No, that isn't right. I never did have the chicken. My boss gave it to the people who lived next door to the library. But once I had a chicken eggs! The same boss was going away and there were these eggs and they were going to hatch and she didn't want them to be born all lonely and die. She brought them over in an aquarium with a strong light to keep them warm. It was really cool, watching them hatch and grow. I would watch my boss's chickens when she was out of town. They were free-range Mexican chickens. They were pretty cool but they would hang out in trees and it was hard to reign them in at night.
Chickens are pretty interesting animals and so Chicken Boy was a story I could believe in. Plus it was written by Frances O'Roarke Dowell, and I think she's a pretty great writer, one of my favorites. This was the first book I read by her with a boy main character. Toby is a middle schooler from a tough family known for trouble making kids and teens. His mother has died and his dad never got over it. He has a grandmother who is nutty and still hurting, too, because of the death of her daughter.  He doesn't have any friends, either, until one kind of odd dude befriends him and helps him to be himself, believe in himself and learn about chickens and their wisdom.  A great book.