Reviews for Chicken Sunday

The average rating for Chicken Sunday based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-01-22 00:00:00 Jerry Clements This picture book by Patricia Polacco is again an absolute gem. Another (autobiographical) story, Chicken Sunday is a glowing and wonderful tale of friendship, understanding, sensitivity, forgiveness, creative craftmanship (and so much more). It is a story to make you smile, to make you cry and to make you feel hungry (and not necessarily for Miss Eula's chicken suppers, but more for the friendship, the love and the easy acceptance of different cultures and religions presented). I really appreciate how the friendship between the narrator (the author as a child) and Stewart and Winston is shown as something "natural" and beautiful, that it is not made to seem exotic, strange or even all that "remarkable" because it is intercultural and interracial (it is just there, and it is a natural, and beautifully natural thing). I find that sometimes, and perhaps even rather often, books that emphasise the supposed, the so-called exotic and remarkable nature of interracial and intercultural friendships can seem somewhat negative to me personally, because friendship is friendship (or should be), and it really does not matter and should not matter if one's friend is of another culture, religion etc. This is avoided with Chicken Sunday. The friendship between Patricia, Stewart and Winston is just a beautiful friendship, the fact that it is an intercultural and interracial friendship actually makes no difference whatsoever. This story is, of course, also somewhat of an Easter story, but it is really not primarily a story about Easter, or religion, Chicken Sunday is primarily about friendship (both the friendship between the three children, but also the developing friendship between the children and Mr. Kodinski). And with that salient fact in mind, Chicken Sunday is naturally, also a poignant tale about courage, about being brave and doing the "right thing." The three children did not throw eggs at Mr. Kodinski's shop, but because he thought they did, he now basically believes that they are part of the bigoted bullies who had been hurling eggs (and other forms of abuse) at him. Going back to his store to not only win him over, but to then ask him for a job, took courage (Mr. Kodinski calls it chutzpah). But of course, it is the home-made pysanky eggs that actually win him over, that actually serve as cementing or beginning to cement his friendship with the three children. Mr. Kodsinki is also a born merchant and I really love and appreciate how he (although he does not have the money to hire the narrator and her two friends) finds a way for them to make money. Of course, the best part (for me) still was and is when Mr. Kodinski gives Patricia, Stewart and Winston the special Easter hat for Miss Eula as a present, how the three children are able to keep their money, and also most importantly, how they will now be able to make Miss Eula happy (and thank her for her wonderful and soul-warming chicken suppers), and how Mr. Kodinski is now a friend as well, a good friend who appreciates and likes them. Reading between the lines of Chicken Sunday, you can tell that Miss Eula, while happy about her new Easter hat, is more happy about the thought behind this special gift and the effort the children had to make to obtain it. The illustrations are again outstanding, and although by themselves, I would not necessarily call them personal favourites, they work wonderfully with the story, the narrative, providing a perfect mirror to and of the text. In fact, the illustrations also go above and beyond the narrative, as two of the illustrations show that Mr. Kodinski is a concentration camp survivor, not only adding to the poignancy of the story itself, but also opening the door for further discussion, especially if reading this book with and to slightly older children. I strongly, no I very strongly recommend Chicken Sunday and I only wish that Patricia Polacco had also included instructions on how to make pysanky eggs in the book, as this could be a perfect class project (and one would not even have to use real eggs, as wooden pysanky eggs would perhaps be an even better project because the "eggs" would last and not spoil).

Review # 2 was written on 2009-12-24 00:00:00 Haeseung Chung This wasn’t one of Polacco’s titles that appealed to me as a vegan, given that I thought chicken on Sundays was what it would be about, and that is part of it. But I was able to dissociate enough to put that part in the background. The rest of the story is fabulous. Once again, this is a story from Polacco’s childhood. This Russian-Jewish girl and two neighbors who are African-American boys, in a “solemn ceremony” become sister and brothers. The boys’ grandmother is raising them, and now she’s Patricia’s grandmother too. Patricia sometimes goes to church with the three of them, even though their religion is not her religion. Their gramma, Eula May Walker, sang beautifully: “like slow thunder and sweet rain.” The story revolves around the children trying to save enough money to buy the grandmother an Easter hat she covets every time she sees it in the store window. The shopkeeper, Mr. Kodinski is, I think, Russian-Jewish too. What happens to bring the three children close to the shopkeeper and then how they get that hat made me cry myself silly. The illustrations are lovely, and I really liked the decorated eggs. In the back inside cover of the book is a photo of the “siblings” Patricia, Stewart, and Winston, as adults, but at a much younger age than the author was at the time this book was written. I love Polacco’s books that have inter-cultural friendships. Edited to add: Oh my gosh. I'm even more touched. I was so engrossed by this story that I neglected to give proper attention to the outstanding illustrations, and as I noticed in my Goodreads friend Kathryn's review of this book: Yes, the shop owner, Mr. Kodinski, is Russian Jewish, and one illustration shows a concentration camp number on his arm. I reread the book and then I did notice it. Having that depicted makes that scene/part of the story even more powerful and inspiring. Oh, I just love this author!