title: Elinor and Violet : The Story of Two Naughty Chickens
author:  Patti Beling Murphy 
description: Elinor barely qualifies as a naughty chicken. "She wrote on the walls--but in tiny, tiny letters.... Sometimes, she sang bad words softly under her breath in the bathroom." In the bright gouaches, Elinor frolics in flowered jumpers against gaily patterned wallpaper, and her faults seem trivial. This changes when another mischievous cluck, Violet, comes to the neighborhood for a weeklong visit. " `You don't have to go when your mother calls you,' said Violet. `Just don't answer....' Elinor spent more and more time in the time-out corner." The trouble peaks when the girls turn an adult's purse into "buried treasure" and must own up to their crime. In her debut as an author-illustrator, Murphy (Day Care Days) resolves the issue with generous forgiveness and maintains the girls' friendship. The potential for misbehavior remains; when the humbled Violet departs (with a promise to return next summer), Elinor affectionately clasps her friend's address and sleeps under a sign reading "Violet rules!" If the text shows a shrewd understanding of peer pressure, the pictures are not so sensitive. Violet, the disagreeable outsider, is an eggshell-brown chicken, in contrast to snowy-white Elinor and her matching family. Murphy slightly rectifies the color-coding with the appearance of Elinor's chestnut-hued aunt, yet racial implications could have been avoided altogether. More effective is the presentation of how minor misdeeds have harmful, or at least embarrassing, consequences. Ages 4-8.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  © Copyright 2020 Elly Knight
  
  
  
  
  
  All rights reserved
  
  
  
  
  
  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
  any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by
  any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing.
  
  
  
  
  
  This story contains spanking for discipline. The author in no way endorses the
  abuse of any person and this story is intended for fictional purposes only.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER ONE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Charli took aim and fired at the fox that was threatening her chickens. She’d
  lost half a dozen over the past few days and couldn’t afford to lose any more.
  Thankfully her papa had taught her how to shoot and she got him first shot, as
  bullets were in short supply until she could sell one of the pigs and get some
  cash. She’d made several attempts to fox proof the chicken house but somehow,
  they kept getting in. It was enough to make her want to scream in frustration.
  
  