Beaky Barnes: Egg on the Loose
A Graphic Novel
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Caldecott Honor winner David Ezra Stein takes readers on a slapstick journey in his debut graphic novel series, featuring Beaky Barnes, a no-nonsense chicken who's determined to save her desirable egg. But with a hungry inspector, a desperate chef, and an entrepreneurial woman on her tail, Beaky has to use every tool in her chicken coop to make her grand escape.
All the inspector wanted was an egg to go in his sandwich, so he heads to the cafe. The problem? The town is entirely out of eggs, and the local chef is panicked. Luckily, he spots a lovely duo having lunch: a woman and a chicken named Beaky Barnes. It's his lucky day. But when the woman and Beaky have a fight over an offensive business arrangement (chicken-pulled coach service, anyone?), chaos ensues. With a chicken on the run, and an inspector and woman in hot pursuit, three stories emerge with hilarious results!
With laugh-out-loud madcap comedy on every page, David Ezra Stein's (Caldecott Honor winner of Interrupting Chicken) signature humor is on full display in this debut graphic novel!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this sprawling inaugural graphic novel by Stein (Don't Worry, Murray), which kicks off with a dramatis personae, readers meet the eponymous, clucking, human-size chicken, who's the boon companion of a successful inventor. But the friendship falters when the inventor discounts both Beaky's chickenhood ("She's never laid an egg in her life") and her autonomy (the inventor's next big idea: a chicken pedicab, pulled by none other than Beaky). When Beaky suddenly lays an egg just as a nearby chef hunts for one, her course becomes clear: go on the lam, reunite with the egg's father, and hatch that chick. Numerous subplots unspool, including one devoted to a fish's college dreams ("I've got big plans for the future and being grilled isn't one of them") and another following a dedicated health and safety inspector who nearly stumbles onto a kitchen-based animal haven. Throughout, the action is regularly interrupted by commercials pushing products, including barrels for people who have lost their clothes ("Abashed by your sudden nudity?"). In inky cartoon panels that cross the narrative irreverence of the Marx Brothers with the breakneck silliness of French farce, Stein's story affirms the folly of pigeonholing anyone—even a very big chicken. Human characters are portrayed with light skin. Ages 6–9.
