Egg, Chick, Chicken
Paul L Roen
Paperback
(Independently published, May 28, 2018)
Are you looking for a children’s book that combines the tongue twisting fun of Dr. Seuss with the soul crushing repetition of low-wage temp work? Do you need a baby shower gift that will ensure you are never asked to be a godparent or even spoken to again by the expecting mother. Are you a librarian who secretly wants to bring down Dianne, the smug head of the children’s department? Egg, Chick, Chicken is the book for you. Perhaps no American novel since All the King’s Men has so perfectly captured its political moment. Egg, Chick, Chicken is an endless repetition of the same stupid things again and again leaving the reader unsure of whether they should laugh or cry, while a feeling of deep regret wells up within and threatens to drown everything they were before. No child’s bookshelf will be complete without this precious little gem, and then, made more complete when the book is surreptitiously placed in a box of hand-me-downs and erased from sleep-deprived mind of the reader. It was extensively tested on an actual two-year old whose erratic and off-putting behavior cannot be reasonably ascribed to the book. The same two-year old whose enjoyment of books has a direct correlation with the level of annoyance of the reader. Here is a book to delight and frustrate in equal measure. “Diabolical,” said the author’s mother. “But not in a good way.” Enjoy!