Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones is a wonderfully unique novel about a girl named Sophie Brown. Sophie, her mom, and her dad moved out of LA to live on her recently deceased great uncle’s farm. On the first day, Sophie finds a catalog for unusual chickens and sends a letter to the address asking about the chickens. During the following few days, Sophie wanders the grounds, bored, looking for things to do. But as time goes on, she starts noticing some strange happenings, and one day during her stroll, she finds a chicken coop with one of her uncle Jim’s chickens.

Sophie decides that if no one was there to take care of the chicken, it would die, so she gives it food and water, names it Henrietta, and finally, after days of waiting, she gets a letter from Agnes, the woman that sent the catalog. Agnes sends Sophie courses on how to take care of chickens while Sophie quickly gets more familiar with the material.

However, Agnes writes to Sophie informing her that her great uncle had more unusual chickens with superpowers. Agnes says that Henrietta has telekinesis and sends Sophie out on a mission to find Jim’s other chickens.

I really liked this book because of the unique format. The whole book is written in letters sent to Sophie’s relatives including her great uncle Jim and her grandmother and it gives the book a deeper sense of depth and distinctiveness.

As someone who really wants a pet but my parents won’t let me, it was fascinating reading about taking care of peculiar chickens and picturing myself in Sophie’s space. Another reason I liked the book is the twists, a book can be plain without much plot or it could be a roller-coaster, like this one. Overall, it’s a beautifully written, wonderful book with even some action.