Chicken Lily

K-Gr 2—Lily is literally and figuratively a chicken. The timid chick will only ride her bike with training wheels, never raises her wing in class, and refuses to try anything new. Filled with seamlessly incorporated poultry puns and idioms, the story follows Lily as she tries to get out of participating in her class's poetry jam. "What if she sounded like a complete birdbrain? What if she fell flat on her beak? What if she laid an egg?" When she can't avoid it any longer, Lily gets down to business and writes her poem, but will she find the courage to read it out loud? On the surface, this is a slight story about overcoming fear and trying new things. However, the wordplay makes this title a good choice for classroom use as well. The watercolor, pen, and ink illustrations are large and, well, cute. Lily's classmates are all friendly and happy, and Lily's face is expressive.