Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell
	List Price:   $5.99 Unit Price:   $4.79 You Save:   $1.20 (20%) ISBN-10:   1416934820 ISBN-13:   9781416934820 Publisher:   Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Atheneum Category:   Middle School Pub. Date:   June 2005 Pages:   208 Format:   Paperback: Trade paperback (US)
Subjects
CHILDREN'S FICTION
Description/Notes
Since the death of his mother, Tobin's family life and school life have been in disarray, but after he starts raising chickens with his seventh-grade classmate, Henry, everything starts to fall into place. Chapter One You might have heard about the time my granny got arrested on the first day of school. Maybe you were one of them pie-eyed kids she almost ran down with her 1984 sky blue Toyota truck, me riding shotgun. When Granny pulled up on the sidewalk like it was our own personal parking spot, everybody was yelling for them kids to get out of the way, but nobody could hear a thing over the blast of Granny's radio and her singing at the top of her lungs. I sat in the police car while an officer made Granny walk a straight line with her finger on her nose, like maybe she'd been driving drunk, which she hadn't been. I wanted like anything to switch on the flashing lights, but the cop in the driver's seat seemed to guess what I had on my mind. 'What's your name, son?' he asked, letting me know he was paying attention. I looked at my reflection in his mirrored sunglasses. 'Tobin McCauley.' The cop grinned and jerked his thumb toward Granny. 'Is she a McCauley, too? Because that would explain everything right off the bat.' 'She's the mother-in-law to a McCauley,' I told him, my fingers still itching to hit that flashing-lights button. 'Close enough,' is what the cop replied. I guess he meant anyone in spitting distance of being related to one of my brothers -- or my sister, for that matter -- had a good chance of having a criminal heart. Not that they ever got busted for anything too bad, mostly petty stuff like shoplifting and being a public nuisance. And Shane and Summer were so old now that they hardly ever did anything worse than jaywalk. It'd been years since Summer had lifted a lipstick from Eckerd drugstore, or Shane had gone hot-rodding the wrong way down Six Forks Road. The cop eyed me suspiciously, remembering that I was a McCauley, too. 'You get in much trouble?' I tried to look tough. I'd stolen a few paper clips in my time, a pencil or two, been made to stay after school for cheating on a test. Most the stuff I did, I did it because teachers seemed to expect it from me. If I didn't commit at least a few minor crimes, then they'd go on about how good I was, what a nice change from the other McCauleys they'd taught in years past. I hated school bad enough without the teachers making a fuss over me. 'Yeah, I get in trouble,' I told the cop, puffing out my chest. 'They had to put a special guard on me last year.' The cop gave me the quick once-over. 'Bet there's not a prison built that could hold you, son,' he said, then started choking on his own laughter, his face glowing red as a bowl of tomato soup. Outside, Granny was making her case to the other officer. 'I'm all this boy's got, 'cause his daddy's good for nothing,' I heard her say. 'His mama passed on when he was seven. Somebody's got to take care of him.' 'Yes, ma'am,' the police officer agreed politely. 'But that doesn't mean you don't have to follow proper parking procedures.' Granny shoved a piece of Juicy Fruit in her mouth. 'You like that Alan Jackson? KISS Country Radio don't play nothing but that Alan Jackson, it seems like. I think he's right good looking, but you can't see him on the radio, now can you?' 'That's right, ma'am,' the officer said. He turned toward the squad car and rolled his eyes. After I got booted out of the car, I watched from the flagpole as they drove Granny away. I was sorry they left off the siren and the lights. I knew that inside that car Granny was sorry, too. Just the day before, my brother Patrick had tried to talk me out of riding to school with Granny. He'd found me on the carport, throwing clumps of dirt at the chain-link fence that separated our yard from the gas station next door. The owner's cat was staring at me from out beside the free air pump, but I ignored it. I don't like cats as a rule. 'Tomorrow's your first day of seventh grade,' Patrick said, pulling up an overturned paint bucket and taking a seat. I nodded. It was a dumb thing for him to say. I The bestselling author of 'Dovey Coe' introduces an unforgettable new character--seventh-grader Tobin McCauley, whose life in a very dysfunctional household is compounded by his only friend's belief that the study of chickens will reveal the meaning of life. Tobin Mccauley's got a near-certifiable grandmother, a pack of juvenile-delinquent siblings, and a dad who's not going to win father of the year any time soon. To top it off, Tobin's only friend truly believes that the study of chickens will reveal...the meaning of life? Getting through seventh grade isn't easy for anyone, son, but when the first day of school starts out with your granny's arrest, you know you've got real problems. Throw on five-day suspension (for defending your English teacher's honor), a chicken that lays green eggs, and a family feud that's tearing everyone to pieces, and you're in for one heck of a ride. With her remarkable ability to create characters you wish could be part of your life forever, Frances O'Roark Dowell introduces Tobin McCauley, Chicken Boy.