I just went to the store!? What happens one frantic week when everyone forgets to put the things they need on Mom?s shopping list? First, it?s cookies, but no milk. Then macaroni, no cheese. And don?t even ask about the toilet paper! Newcomer Kristen Darbyshire?s quirky humor, fresh, graphic style, and sweetly expressive family of chickens will make this a favorite with kids . . . and the beleaguered grocery shoppers in their lives. PreSchool-K—A family of anthropomorphized chickens keeps running out of household staples. Mom tells everyone to put the needed items on the shopping list that's posted on the refrigerator, but they ignore the directive and just complain when supplies run out. Things get really bad: "It was boo-boo, no Band-Aid…wet baby, no diaper…macaroni, no cheese…peanut butter, no jelly." And then the toilet paper runs out. When Mom serves a "peanut butter and pickled grub on macaroni casserole," it is decided that everyone needs to pitch in and help. The situation improves, even as the family acknowledges that if things go awry again, they can always order a pizza. The chickens are depicted as stick figures with large round heads. The gouache illustrations are spare, with ink outlines and solid-colored backgrounds. An amusing cautionary tale for families everywhere.— Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Nothing frustrates this family of chickens like running out of their favorite grub—although, honestly, “pickled grubs” are among the smaller chickens’ least-favorite menu items. After running out of cereal, one chick recounts the irritating past week: on Monday they had pancakes but no syrup (ketchup makes a poor replacement); on Tuesday they had toothbrushes but no toothpaste (no matter that chickens lack teeth); and so on, until things get so out of control that there’s a—ahem—situation with the lack of toilet paper. The illustrations are clear and bright, with dot-eyed birdies peeking from colorful, abstract backgrounds. Thursday provides the biggest visual break, as Mom’s path through the grocery aisles is tracked with a dashed line. The rhythm of the story seems a bit off, and some parents may bristle at the traditional portrayal of the mom as food preparer; but it’s hard to resist this ode to that simple tool too few of us use: the shopping list. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Daniel Kraus An amusing cautionary tale for families everywhere. -- School Library Journal There's plenty of humor...Darbyshire's chickens have much the same avian appeal as Dunrea's Gossie and Gertie characters. This has plenty of charm for children and their adults, and it would make a fine read aloud choice. -- BCCB , starred review A familiar scenario is addressed with common sense and gentle humor...an appealing look... the heart of this selection is the pictures, peopled with appealingly childlike birds... filled with just enough detail to be familiar and endearing. Plenty of families will see themselves in Darbyshire's universal and humorous situations, and the minimal yet sometimes dramatic text will have great appeal for preschoolers. The illustrations are clear and bright, with dot-eyed birdies peeking from colorful, abstract backgrounds. ...it's hard to resist this ode to that simple tool too few of us use: the shopping list. Kristen Darbyshire lives in Upstate New York, where she works as a middle school art teacher. This is her fi rst book.