CHICKS RULE!

When a bespectacled yellow chick
arrives, toy rocket under one wing, at the coop that houses the Rocket Club
(“the coolest club in the galaxy”) to find a “No Chicks Allowed!!!” sign, it
spawns a feathered revolution.

As she stalks past “Cool chicks and
nerdy chicks / Quiet chicks and wordy chicks / Biker chicks and rocker chicks /
Science chicks and soccer chicks” standing outside other clubhouse-coops with
similarly unwelcoming signs, they begin to fall in line after her till she’s
got a mammoth following. Dressed in all sorts of outfits that indicate their
professions and interests and carrying placards (“NO MORE”; “Enough Is Enough”;
“Give Chicks a Chance,” reads one held aloft by a hijabi chick), they arrive at
a large white barn, where they are rebuffed again. “But chicks are strong and
chicks are smart,” and working together they build a real rocket that proves
that “Chicks can conquer anything!” Appropriately for her theme,
Bardhan-Quallen’s rhyming text has the rhythmic quality of a chant. Kurilla supplies
paneled pictures of stubby little chicks of many colors, all frowning adorably
with determination. Of course, for the joke to work, caregivers will have to
explain to young readers that “chick” is a sexist term for “woman,” which takes
some of the air out of it. Nevertheless, there’s no questioning its energy.

I am woman, hear me peep.
(Picture book. 3-6)