Author: Katherine Battersby
Illustrator: Katherine Battersby
© Date: 2023
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 103
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Yes, graphic novel
Publisher Recommended Age: 6-9 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No
Summary from Book: Cranky Chicken needs a nap!
And Speedy the worm has BIG questions.
But wait…Did Cranky just lay an egg?
Two Best Feathered Friends help each other to be just like a family-cranktastic together!
Page Pig Thoughts: Still a sweet story of Cranky Chicken and Speedy’s friendship, but I wasn’t as excited about this one. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood. I was disappointed that Crankosaurus was not really part of the story, it was just something that was mentioned as something that Cranky Chicken could become. I appreciate the friendship in this story and one type of mood is not better than another, they are all accepted.
Family Unit: Cranky Chicken and Speedy hang out together.
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Speedy wants to help Crank Chicken have a happy nap time, so Cranky Chicken is patient while Speedy tries different things that are ultimately keeping Cranky Chicken awake.
- Speedy has an identity wobble and isn’t sure what he is anymore.
- Cranky Chicken isn’t sure what to do with the egg that she seems to have laid.
Positive Items:
- Speedy and Cranky Chicken have each other’s best interests at heart and try to help each other. Sometimes the help isn’t as helpful as they hoped, but they are still trying.
- Being cranky is an okay emotion. Happiness is not pushed/forced. They meet each other where they are at.
Items of Interest:
- Despite Cranky Chicken having a napping system, Speedy really wants to help Cranky Chicken have a happy nap time. Speedy succeeds in getting himself a nap, but Cranky Chicken is kept awake.
- When Speedy finds out that Cranky Chicken is a hen, not a rooster, he has a bit of an identity crisis and wonders if he has never been a worm. Logic keeps Speedy from identifying as other animals like cobras and fish, so he doesn’t know how he will know what he is. Cranky Chicken says that “You can decide what you are.” See what you feel like. Speedy says sometimes he feels like a worm, but mostly he just feel like Speedy. Cranky Chicken then says, “Whatever you are, you’re still YOU. There really is only one Speedy. What you are isn’t even the best part. It’s WHO you are.”
- Cranky Chicken thinks she lays an egg, but doesn’t know what to do with it because it is new to her. Speedy and Cranky Chicken go to the library to research eggs. Library Llama has a they pronoun. When it hatches, the egg turns out to be a turtle that thinks Cranky Chicken and Speedy are its parents. Cranky Chicken and Speedy help the turtle find some water to raise itself, as turtles do (Speedy learned that from the library egg research). Now Cranky Chicken and Speedy feel a bit like parents because they kinda helped raise someone.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
- Book 1 – Cranky Chicken (review)
- Book 2 – Cranky Chicken: Party Animals
- Book 3 – Cranky Chicken: Crankosaurus
- Book 4 – Cranky Chicken: The Cranky-verse
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