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Get your talking Chicken Butt! doll here
for Kids and Grown-ups and Classrooms and Libraries and Storytimes
and all-around FUN
Letters!
When you sit groups of kindergarten and first grade students on the floor, wear a hat resembling a chicken's backside and say the words "chicken butt," you've got 'em hooked from the start. Erica Perl was a huge hit here at Laytonsville Elementary School in suburban Maryland. And, underneath the silliness (and there was that to be sure), Ms. Perl's presentation had a lot to offer both students and teachers. She had the kids totally engaged in a call-and-response reading of Chicken Butt and got them generating ideas for their own rhyming books. In fact, one kindergarten teacher started her students creating rhyming books to wrap up their study of dinosaurs literally minutes after Ms. Perl left at the end of the day!
And, the books turned out great! Ms. Perl's quieter, more contemplative book Dotty had the kids thinking and asking questions about the need for imaginary friends and the importance of real ones. We all learned something about the writing craft and the work behind the books. All in all, a great time was had by all! Thanks, Erica Perl for visiting Laytonsville.
Rich Parker
Media Specialist
Laytonsville Elementary School, Gaithersburg, MD
Harbor School First Grade
Chicken Butt videos!
Vintage Veronica book trailer
Ninety-Three in My Family Activity Guide
for Classrooms and Storytimes
Download (PDF 838kb)
On The Radio
WNYC
Children's Fiction Tackles Economic Uncertainty
The Book Show
Books to read to children during financial ruin
NPR
Erica's Slate slideshows
Mom,What's a Credit Default Swap?
Books to read your children during a financial crisis.
See Iron Man Run
Hollywood wants to teach your kid to read
I'm Talking to You, Corded!
The mismatch of technology and picture books
Where the Wild Things Came From
How children's books evolved from morals to madcap fun
PBS.org posts
FRONTLINE "Storm Over Everest"
The Complete Jane Austen "Emma"
Huffington Post posts
Junie B., Meet 34B
You Might Even Say I Started It All!
Erica's YouTube Interview!
Vanessa Trien Sings "Ninety-Three In My Family"
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(MP3 6.83mb)