Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Breathtakingly beautiful meta-illustrations will draw many eyes to this tale of a curious chicken who spills some paint. "This picture is almost finished," narrates an unseen artist whose life-size pencil and brush lie across a barnyard drawing with cow, chicken coop and wheelbarrow softly shaded and colored but a barn only outlined. "[T]his day is perfect for painting the barn. / But wait. Does one of the chickens want to help?" A small white chicken patters out from the coop onto the blank white background, climbing up onto the edge of a paint pot—and tipping it over. Blue paint flows down the page, splattering on finished and unfinished bits of the original picture. It floods onto pansies, chicks and the cow, whose "moo wakes the chickens. They're peevish and blue." Irritated blue chickens give chase across now all-blue spreads; the original chicken who "just wanted to... / HELP!" is intimidated and "[s]incerely sorry." Watercolor washes and splashes, from pale blue to dark, create wonderful, wet patterns; their liquid edges contrast alluringly with fine pencil lines and shadings. Resourcefully, the chicken tips out the artist's brush-rinsing water jar, drenching and cleansing this world back into neatness. But is that the artist at the end, painting a real barn outdoors while something hilarious happens indoors in her studio? Delicate and durable, visually sophisticated yet friendly: simply exquisite. (Picture book. 3-7)

Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

An almost-finished watercolor picture of a farm is the setting for some fowl high jinks when one of the chickens pops out of the picture and upends the paint, covering herself and the picture in blue. The apologetic chicken then attempts to set things right. Metafiction fans will appreciate the sheer joy of this book that celebrates color and innocent mischief.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Breathtakingly beautiful meta-illustrations will draw many eyes to this tale of a curious chicken who spills some paint. "This picture is almost finished," narrates an unseen artist whose life-size pencil and brush lie across a barnyard drawing with cow, chicken coop and wheelbarrow softly shaded and colored but a barn only outlined. "[T]his day is perfect for painting the barn. / But wait. Does one of the chickens want to help?" A small white chicken patters out from the coop onto the blank white background, climbing up onto the edge of a paint pot—and tipping it over. Blue paint flows down the page, splattering on finished and unfinished bits of the original picture. It floods onto pansies, chicks and the cow, whose "moo wakes the chickens. They're peevish and blue." Irritated blue chickens give chase across now all-blue spreads; the original chicken who "just wanted to... / HELP!" is intimidated and "[s]incerely sorry." Watercolor washes and splashes, from pale blue to dark, create wonderful, wet patterns; their liquid edges contrast alluringly with fine pencil lines and shadings. Resourcefully, the chicken tips out the artist's brush-rinsing water jar, drenching and cleansing this world back into neatness. But is that the artist at the end, painting a real barn outdoors while something hilarious happens indoors in her studio? Delicate and durable, visually sophisticated yet friendly: simply exquisite. (Picture book. 3-7)

School Library Journal (Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2011)

PreS-Gr 2 Blue Chicken wasn't always blue. When she was created in an artist's studio, she was a bright white, as she should be. But then she decides that she wants to help finish the picture by painting the barn. She climbs right out of the painting and onto the edge of a paint container. Shockingly, it topples over, splashing blue paint all over her and onto the other animals. She is sorry, so sorry and she tries to undo the mishap. She intentionally tips over the rinse water and is relieved to watch as it washes away the blue. The animals are happy to be returned to their original state while the errant color creates a perfect wash of blue in the sky. In a surprise ending, readers find the little chicken a bright shade of red from another botched attempt, this time to help the artist who is painting an actual barn outside the studio. The chicken is childlike in its strong desire to help and often be responsible for dire consequences. Full of surprise and emotion, the story is very clever, and children will love the idea of a subject popping out of a painting and creating such mischief. Freedman's artwork features sharp pen-and-ink watercolor drawings and an expert use of perspective. The blue splash created by the chicken is an exciting contrast to the realistic style of the artist's rendering. The book has much to pore over on every page, and children will want to experience the action over and over again. Diane Antezzo, Ridgefield Library, CT

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Freedman-s (Scribble) second outing recalls some of David Wiesner-s work, opening with a painting of a painting: an unfinished picture of a barnyard lies on an illustrator-s desk, three-dimensional tools and pots of ink scattered across its flat surface. Within the painting, chickens sleep in the coop until one plucky hen emerges from the picture plane, knocking over a pot of blue ink and flooding the barnyard. The rest of the animals, roused over several spreads into three-dimensional existence, glare at the chicken. -Maybe the chicken can undo the blue?- She spills a jar of clean water across the page, which-in a tour de force of painterly control-washes the blue away, -Except for the sky. The sky should stay blue on a morning so clear.- Because Freedman-s main interest is in the tension between the two- and three-dimensional spaces, there-s not much time to develop the animals as characters. But she works through the technical problems thoughtfully and skillfully, allowing children to both decipher the action and ponder its implications. Ages 3-5. (Sept.)

Starred Review ALA Booklist (Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2011)

Starred Review How much mischief can one two-dimensional chicken cause? Plenty, as this exuberant picture book shows. A calm, quiet morning, perfect for painting, becomes awash with blue when a chicken steps out of the storyboard and onto an artist's desk. Instead of painting the barn, as shemeant to do, the chicken accidentally tips over a jar of paint. The ducks don't seem to mind, but the other animals take umbrage as they are all washed in indigo. In a scene reminiscent of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," the blue looks set to completely swamp the book, until the chicken is able to counter the mess and restore calm d the correct colors all involved. The idea of characters stepping out of picture books has been the successful theme of numerous titles, including Peter Catalanotto's Ivan the Terrier (2007) and David Wiesner's Caldecott Medal winner, The Three Pigs (2001), but this title offers a fresh approach. The spare, poetic text allows the images to shine, and Freedman extends the story beyond the credits, starting and finishing on the end pages. Like the chicken stepping out of the storyboard, this delightful treat emphasizes the joy of breaking free of conventional boundaries and turning accidents into art.