Arthur goes to pick up the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner but comes back with a 260-pound chicken.

children's fiction. I've heard this characterized as middle grade, but I would say 3rd-5th (maybe hi-lo for 6th). The movie they made from it was so memorable I found that I couldn't concentrate or appreciate the text as much; I kept trying to remember what happened in the movie. But I think it would make a fine read-aloud or even a read-alone. ( )

I've been a fan of Pinkwater for years but somehow never read this before. For shame, as it's one of his most iconic. Funny, touching, funny, clever, especially good for those infamous young boy reluctant readers, oh, and funny. Ok, fine, maybe a little quieter than some of the author's other works. Not as short as the [b:Irving and Muktuk: Two Bad Bears|893753|Irving and Muktuk Two Bad Bears|Daniel Manus Pinkwater|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223426154s/893753.jpg|1739570] stories but still a very quick read. ( )

“Nobody in Arthur Bobowicz’s family really liked turkey.” But Arthur’s father insists on it for Thanksgiving dinner. “Poppa came from Poland, and he was very big on holidays, and being an American … Most of the kids in the neighborhood had the same scene at home. … They all had fathers like Arthur Bobowicz’s father—they came from Italy, and the Ukraine, and Puerto Rico, and Hong Kong. The kids were all being raised to be Americans, and everyone’s father knew that Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving.”

But when Arthur goes to pick up the bird at the butcher he discovered the family’s order has been lost. There is no turkey waiting for Bobowicz, and every other turkey has already been spoken for, as have the chickens, ducks and geese. Arthur searches the neighborhood in vain, hoping to find a fowl of some kind to bring home. Just when he’s about to give up he sees this sign in an apartment house window, “Professor Mazzocchi Inventor of the Chicken System.” So Arthur returns home with a live chicken on a leash, an experimental 266 pound chicken twice as tall as he is. The Bobowiczs have meatloaf for Thanksgiving, and Arthur has a new pet that really frightens the neighbors. ( )

Chickens, as everyone knows, "are very sensitive birds... When their feelings are hurt, they become unpleasant, anti-social. A perfectly sweet chicken can become a bitter destructive bird, if it feels that it is unwanted..."

And so it is with Henrietta, the 266 pound chicken young Arthur Bobowicz brings home one Thanksgiving. When Arthur's father insists that the massive bird must go, Henrietta ends up frightened and homeless, lashing out angrily at the world around her. It's the "Hoboken Chicken Emergency," and as mass hysteria grips the city, the authorities seem helpless to stop the fowl depredations. Will Henrietta be caught by Anthony De Palma, the Chicken Hunter? Will Arthur and his beloved bird finally be reunited...?

It's another hilarious Pinkwater adventure, complete with all the wonderfully improbable circumstances, quirky characters, and sly dialogue I've come to expect from this author. Originally published in the 1970s, my copy of The Hoboken Chicken Emergency came from the library, and includes Pinkwater's own simple illustrations. I understand that this title was recently republished, with an "updated" text, and different illustrations. Frankly, I'm not certain that any changes were necessary. Although anyone with a sense of humor will be able to appreciate it, this book's off-beat hilarity and action-oriented story make it an ideal choice for reluctant young boy readers. ( )