You know, I love me a good book.
Doesn’t matter if it’s fiction or non.
If I find a good book and it hooks me, I’m in.
If it’s got chickens in it? Even better.
Chickens and easily digestible tidbits of life advice? Now it’s a slam dunk.
So you can imagine how excited I was to discover this gem in the gift books section at The Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, New Hampshire.
I originally learned of this title when I was doing research two years ago into chickens as therapy animals and couldn’t get a copy through my local library system. But sometimes the universe has a strange way of aligning things for us.
I showed my partner Scott the book, and we both shot each other glances that could only mean one thing – it was an instabuy.
So I brought it home and finally got to read it.
And I loved it.
The book’s author Tedra Hamel was a nursing student at the time of writing the book, and had been a chicken keeper for a few years at that point. She was inspired in 2020 to start drawing her feathered friends, and the rest is history.
I really love the format of this book – just over 50 tasty little keywords and blurbs full of wisdom and joy organized by the seasons. Everything is arranged in a way that a chicken would experience it during the year, and Tedra’s beautiful artwork of her own flock gives the passages just the right amount of pop and flavor.
This is a book I grab when I’m feeling sad, or if I feel like I need a gentle reminder that life is fun and good.
I really enjoy flipping through this book, and would recommend it to any “Henthusiast” (as Tedra says) or chicken person that just needs a moment or two of peace to breathe. Today’s world is wild and crazy, and I feel like this book brings a lot of whimsy and levity to the table for those who need it. No matter how many times I pick this book up, I always find something new. It’s like a warm beverage and a blanket for the soul, and definitely makes me appreciate my feather babies and their goofy antics more.
It’s also worth noting that if you love Tedra’s colorful and whimsical illustrations, she runs an AMAZING Etsy shop full of fun goods that feature these designs and new ones. She also does beautiful custom flock portraits, and if anyone wants an idea of what to get me this year for Christmas, there’s a good starting point.
Abisensei rating: 🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚 5 of 5 eggs.
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