Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken.

Louise longs for adventure beyond her chicken-coop home, and each of her forays into the larger world brings more danger than she expects. Taking a high-seas trip ends in capture by pirates and a shipwreck, joining the zoo leads to a near miss with an escaped lion, and visiting a fortune-teller at an exotic bazaar foretells an encounter with a scary hen-napper. Finally, Louise settles for becoming the barnyard storyteller, sharing adventures with her stay-at-home companions. Rosenblat’s robust interpretation of the intrepid chicken’s wanderings is a virtuoso performance. Nimbly switching back and forth from Louise and her French-accented friend Monique to the individually voiced band of pirates, a circus ringmaster, and the silken-voiced fortune-teller, Rosenblat imbues each character Louise meets with a unique flavor. Original background music, crowd noises, and softly clucking hens add to the ambience of this excellent read-along, which is a crowd-pleaser. The price includes a hardcover book.