A very cute book for kids (and chicken-loving adult librarians). A simple read for ages as young as 7 or 8, but I feel it's mostly intended for kids just learning to keep chickens. It has some great information about types of chickens and how to care for them, all wrapped up in a cute story. Sophie has just moved onto her great Uncle Jim's farm from L.A. with her busy mother and clueless father. Then she encounters the first of many unusual chickens her great uncle used to raise. And these chickens are even more strange than your average chicken! But never having raised a chicken before, Sophie takes all this in stride, writing letters to a local farm, asking for tips and advice. But a neighbor seems to want to steal these special chickens, so Sophie has to deal with that too.

All of it is told in the form of letters from Sophie to the poultry farm (whose responses are quite strange), her deceased great uncle, and also her deceased grandmother. Sophie has a very unusual, but casual, view on death, but she believes that while her relatives are dead, they still watch over her and listen. I thought that was pretty neat. Also, this books is great for kids who have just moved (Sophie moved from the big city to farm country) and also she is Hispanic, and she makes mention a couple times how she's used to people thinking she's Mexican or hired farm help.

Anyway, a GREAT book for chicken fans (like me), cute characters, and a fun little story.