Publishers Weekly
Another of James Marshall's beloved books returns, Wings: A Tale of Two Chickens (1986), in which Winnie the chicken, who doesn't read, finds herself prey to a fox. It's up to feathered Harriet to rescue her pal. "There is more here than just a hilarious plot," wrote PW upon its original 1986 publication. "Very real characters, a plug for reading, a warning about strangers and animated, breezy art full of detail. Marshall is in top form here."
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Wings gets off to a flying start as Winnie, a bored chicken, takes off in a stranger's balloon basket, so she can ``live a little.'' Foolish, uneducated Winnie never realizes until the tale's end that the stranger is a fox planning a chicken dinner. But her sensible sister Harriet (who knows about foxes) recognizes the danger and, in a clever disguise, outfoxes the abductor after some madcap shenanigans. But there is more here than just a hilarious plotvery real characters, a plug for reading, a warning about strangers and, above all, animated, breezy art full of detail, expression and humor. Marshall is in top form here. (38)
School Library Journal
K-Gr 2 This is typical Marshall: a series of minor crises resolved in outlandishly humorous ways, ways that savvy young children can anticipate and revel in the happy second-guessing. Here a gluttonous dumb cluck is led astray by the wily fox, only to be rescued by her intelligent friend. Marshall's boldly simple watercolors are used to expressive advantage in depicting chickens as bulky tea-cosies and a hot-air balloon (a key apparatus in this farcical melodrama) of similar shape. The bit of subtlety in the story comes by way of a chicken crossing road-marker, a bear preacher who is aggressive in showing his parishioners how to ``help the needy'' and a chicken costume only a vacuous hen would fall for. The text is just enough to add texture to this smoothie of visual slapstick. Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
From the Publisher
“There is more here than just a hilarious plot—very real characters, a plug for reading, a warning about strangers and above all, animated, breezy art full of detail, expression, and humor. Marshall is in top form here.” Publishers Weekly
"Satisfying suspense." Kirkus Reviews
