Old Mr. Mackle Hackle
by Gunnar Madsen; illustrated by Irana Shepherd
Like chicken jokes? Me neither. But here’s a few to egg you on:
How does a chicken bake a cake?
From scratch!What do you call a crazy chicken?
A cuckoo cluck!
Hah! The pretext for all this fowl play is a henpecked bird whose owner, Mr. Mackle Hackle, frets when she doesn’t cackle for him. But it’s his turn to get his feathers ruffled after her chicks hatch.
There are moments of inspired silliness and some rhymes that truly sparkle, even as the puns make you cluck disapprovingly. Madsen-- founder of the a capella group the Bobs -- states on the back flap that this is a story about letting go and not worrying, but it doesn’t need the explanation.
Sometimes it’s just better to let a crazy idea hatch on its own and then let it take wing.
Rating: *\*\*\
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