'Fowl' by Shaun McMahon is a book that works on different levels. On the surface it's the story of a chicken who dreams of playing football for his favourite team but scratch a little deeper and it's a tale of passion and prejudice, revenge and remorse, with lessons for us all.
Bert McCluck spends all his time on Manor Side Farm honing his football skills and watching West Farthing FC whenever they're on television, sitting beside Stan Perkins, the farmer, who is also a big fan. This doesn't go down at all well with the other chickens however and they take every opportunity to ridicule and abuse him, until the day that he's spotted by the club's manager after his car breaks down outside the farm. The West Farthing players also mock and jeer at Bert when he arrives for his trial, until, that is, they see him play. The club's star player, Chris Blackwell, who has his nose well and truly put out of joint, pays lip service to the general euphoria and pretends to
welcome and accept this new player, who the team is sure is going to win the Cup Final for them the following week. Secretly plotting to make sure Bert never makes it onto the field, his foul play has to be uncovered.
This is a well written, very enjoyable book, which addresses fundamental flaws in the footballing, and wider, world in a gentle but effective way. A sentence on the last page sums it up...'perhaps you (Bert) could start a football training school...we could think of no-one better to teach us'. Listen up F.A.
Drena Irish, A LoveReading4Kids Ambassador
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