With the price of eggs recently, I’m wishing our neighborhood association allowed backyard chickens! In the meantime, I’ll dream about having some backyard gals with these children’s books about chickens. This book list is just one of the many animal book lists you’ll find right here at Growing Book by Book.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Books About Chickens for Kids
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Catch That Chicken! by Atinuke introduces us to Lami. She is the fastest in her village. Is she fast enough to catch a chicken? Well, turns out there is another way to catch a chicken that doesn’t require speed. You’ll love her ingenuity.
Once again, Angela Brooksbank, who illustrated Atinuke’s Baby Goes to Market, does a superb job of illustrating Atinuke’s words. I love this author/illustrator duo.
Lots of cities allow backyard chickens. So Sophie and Winston prep a coop, share their excitement and await their chickens in The Chickens Are Coming by Barbara Samuels. Will their chickens ever feel at home to start laying eggs? Turns out you need patience!
Chicken Little The Real and Totally True Tale by Sam Wedelich is a fun twist on the tale. Can Chicken Little reason with the rest of the flock? Should you believe everything you hear? You need to check the facts. This a powerful lesson we all need to hear!
Watch out! There are chickens running amock in Chickens on the Loose by Jane Kurtz. Get ready to follow these chickens all through town as they wear themselves out. If you ever read The Great Gracie Chase by Cynthia Rylant, this would be a fun read-along.
Mr. Watson’s Chickens by Jarrett Dapier has so much going for it. It’s a book children will want to hear over and over again.
Mr. Watson loves chickens and starts with a manageable three. But that number soon grows. There are chickens everywhere from the bathtub to the bed. It’s just too much. And, then they escape!
Mr. Nelson pleads with Mr. Watson to do something. So, they set off to find them new homes. But, another mishap happens along the way. But, there is a silver lining to this new dilemma. Will they return home to an empty nest though?
This is such a fun book. It reminds me a lot of 365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental in that the animals keep multiplying in the house and things get a little crazy.
Poultrygeist by Eric Geron is the story of the chicken who tried to cross the road and didn’t make it to the other side. Well, just didn’t make it to the intended “other side.” This is a perfect read-aloud for your older kiddos who will get all the play on words. And, the last page spread invites young writers to create their own stories.
Have you ever just wanted a nap but everything and anything stands in the way? Well, that happens to the chicken in Chicken Wants a Nap by Tracy Marchini too.
Determined chickens are about to break out of the pen. Count along as they do so in Chicken Break!: A Counting Story by Cate Berry. But, just as soon as they break, they have to get back home for another kind of break.
Kids will giggle their way through this read-aloud rooting on Peg to come out of her shell and see the world. A fun one for spring! Read Peg Gets Crackin’ by Jo Renfro.
This is a fun one for counting to ten and back down again. You can also use it for rhyming and talking about the multiple meanings of “break.” Makes a perfect circle-time read-aloud pick.
My favorite funny chicken read-aloud series is by David Ezra Stein. In Interrupting Chicken Cookies for Breakfast,
Chick is eager for Papa to get up because cookies are sounding mighty fine for breakfast. But, papa thinks nursery rhymes sound like a better treat.
Leave it to Chick to insert 🍪 cookies 🍪 into every rhyme though. Speaking of cookies…Do you have a favorite cookie? I love peanut butter with Hershey’s Kisses on top.
Looking to add a STEM beginning early chapter book series to your shelves? Enter The Great Mathemachicken: Hide and Go Beak where children will be entertained and learn all about simple machines as the chicken coop attempts to design a trap for the fox.
In fact, there are even directions for children to make their own simple machine (not a trap though) in the back of the book. The Great Mathemachicken: Hide and Go Beak is by Jancy Krulik.
Informational Books About Chickens for Kids
Eggs From Red Hen Farm: Farm to Table with Mazes and Maps by Monica Wellington invites readers right into the book. Many of the page spreads have a map/maze the students can use their fingers to maneuver around based on the text. Help Ned and Ruby get the eggs from the farm into the hands of people who can use them.
If you have a very strong liking and desire to learn all you can about chickens, then you need Chickenology: The Ultimate Encyclopedia by Barbara Sandri, Francesco Giubbilini, and Camilla Pintonato. This book has it all from how chicks develop to food dishes that use eggs around the world, to how chickens have shaped history. There is a lot to cluck about in this one. You’ll spend a lot of time pouring over the pages.
One Hen by Katie Smith Milway is the story of how one idea to raise money for food grew into a huge food resource. Change happens one idea at a time by one person at a time. I loved the resourcefulness and determination showcased throughout the story.
A Chicken Followed Me Home!: Questions and Answers about a Familiar Fowl by Robin Page introduces us to basic facts and the care of chickens. Informative for young readers raising chickens or interested in their care.
Take a look at chickens around the world in Chicken Talk Around the World by Carole Lexa Schaefer. Take a trip around the world!
Printable Book List of Chicken Books
Grab a printable book list of the books shared above. Just click the purple button below to download.
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