This Month’s Featured Book
Lena the Chicken (But Really a Dinosaur!) by Linda Bailey, illustrated by K-Fai Steele
Why This Book Will Have You Pondering Identity, Evidence, and Belonging
Lena may look like a chicken, but she knows—deep down—that she is really a dinosaur. Her fellow chickens are confused by this belief, yet Lena remains determined to understand herself and find her place in the world. This playful picture book invites children to consider what it means to feel different, stay true to yourself, and remain open to possibilities that others may not immediately understand.
Those social-emotional questions make Lena the Chicken a natural choice for shared reading with young children. Families might wonder together: Have you ever felt different from the people around you? What helps someone feel accepted? Can we be both an individual and part of a group? Lena’s journey creates space for conversations about identity, confidence, friendship, belonging, and the courage to speak up.
A Chicken, a Dinosaur, and a Scientific Connection
Lena’s idea is also an invitation to explore a fascinating scientific fact: birds are living dinosaurs. More specifically, modern birds descended from theropod dinosaurs, the group that included animals such as T. rex. Scientists use evidence from fossils, bones, feathers, anatomy, and genetics to understand these connections across deep time.
Of course, Lena’s claim is part of a humorous fictional story rather than a scientific report. That distinction makes the book especially useful for media literacy. Children can enjoy the imaginative premise while learning to ask, “What kind of message is this?” and “What evidence would help us investigate the idea?” At the end of the story, are some nonfiction facts to share.
The Media Literacy Pondering
One of the most valuable skills this book supports is evaluating claims and evidence. Lena makes a claim about who she is. Readers can examine the clues within the story, compare Lena’s beliefs with scientific information, and consider how authors use words and pictures to guide our understanding.
This book connects especially well with Washington’s ELA media-literacy standards ELA.1.RML.4, which asks students to identify facts and opinions and distinguish what is realistic from what is pretend, and ELA.1.RML.5, which asks students to identify experts on a particular topic. As children consider Lena’s dinosaur claim, they can enjoy the imaginative story while asking which ideas belong to the fictional world and which can be explored through scientific evidence. This is good practice noticing a character’s message, recognizing their own response, and asking whether a claim is supported by evidence.
Reading together gives adults a gentle way to model this thinking. Instead of immediately deciding whether Lena is “right” or “wrong,” try wondering aloud: “What does Lena believe? What does the story show us? What could we learn from a scientist or another reliable source?” These small conversations help children understand that media can entertain, persuade, inform, or invite us to imagine—and that different kinds of messages require different kinds of thinking.
The Power of Reading Together
Picture books make these conversations feel natural because they give families a shared place to begin. A child may notice Lena’s expression, laugh at the chickens’ reactions, or ask an unexpected question about dinosaurs. When adults pause, listen, and follow that curiosity, learning becomes a relationship rather than an assignment.
There is no need to turn every reading experience into a lesson. Sometimes the most meaningful learning happens when we simply enjoy the story, notice what captures a child’s attention, and make room for wonder. A repeated reading may reveal a new illustration, a new feeling, or a new question. That combination of pleasure, presence, and thoughtful conversation is one of the special powers of picture books.
Ponderings to Share
After reading, consider asking, What makes Lena think she is a dinosaur? This question encourages children to notice details in the words and illustrations while distinguishing between a character’s belief and evidence that can be investigated.
You might also ask, How do the other chickens respond to Lena, and how does that make her feel? This opens a conversation about belonging, empathy, exclusion, and the ways people react when someone seems unusual or unfamiliar.
Finally, wonder together, What evidence shows that birds and dinosaurs are connected? With younger children, this might lead to noticing feathers, feet, or bird behavior. Older children may enjoy comparing pictures of birds and dinosaur fossils or exploring information from a library book, museum, or trusted science source.
Connecting Lena’s Story to Puget Sound Bird Watching
Families throughout the Puget Sound region can extend Lena the Chicken (But Really a Dinosaur!) with a short bird-observation walk near home, school, a neighborhood park, or a local trail. Invite children to notice how birds move, use their feet and beaks, communicate, and use different features to survive. Children can sketch one bird, describe its behavior, or take a photograph from a respectful distance without disturbing nests or wildlife.
Afterward, compare observations with a trusted field guide or eBird. Ask, “What did we observe directly, and what did we learn from another source?” This distinction reinforces the book’s media-literacy connection: observations are evidence, while explanations and identifications may require expert information.
Using “The Bird Spotting Guide” on a Family Walk
Invite children to choose one bird card before the walk, then look and listen for that bird in habitats found across the Puget Sound region, including open areas, ponds, wetlands, shrubs, forests, and shorelines. Encourage them to record only what they directly observe, such as color, movement, sound, location, or behavior, before checking a field guide or birding database. Remind children to watch quietly, keep a respectful distance, and leave nests and wildlife undisturbed.
The featured birds may be encountered in many Puget Sound communities, although sightings vary by season, habitat, and location. For example, families near The Soos Creek Trail, or Clark Lake might use local eBird sightings as a starting point; families in other communities can search eBird for a nearby park, wetland, trail, or shoreline.
A Media Literacy Connection
The field guide supports the book’s focus on evidence and reliable information. Ask, “What did we see or hear ourselves, and what did we learn from another source?” Children can treat their observations as evidence while recognizing that identifying a bird may require comparison with an expert field guide, trusted birding database, or knowledgeable adult.
Because the Kent Regional Library is closed until spring 2027, families can use their local school library, the public library, classroom collections, home bookshelves, or trusted digital resources to continue exploring. Invite children to compare Lena the Chicken with a nonfiction book, article, video, or website about birds and dinosaurs. An example could be: Chickens and Other Dinosaurs: How Dinosaurs Became the Birds We Know Today or When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies: The Incredible Story of Bird Evolution
Notice how each source communicates information differently: a picture book may use humor and imagination, while a nonfiction source may use photographs, diagrams, labels, or references. Both can be valuable, but they serve different purposes.
Families might also create a simple “claim and evidence” page together. Children can write or draw one claim Lena makes, add evidence from the story, and then record one new fact discovered from a reliable source. This keeps the activity playful while reinforcing the media literacy habit of asking how we know what we think we know.
Until Next Time…
Isn’t it wonderful that a story about one determined chicken can lead us toward questions about identity, belonging, science, and truth? Lena the Chicken (But Really a Dinosaur!) reminds us that children’s ideas deserve our attention, even when those ideas arrive with feathers, dramatic confidence, and a little dinosaur-sized stubbornness.
When we read together, we help children do more than understand a story. We help them notice how messages work, consider other perspectives, connect ideas to evidence, and remain curious when the answer is not immediately clear. Most of all, we show them that learning can begin with a laugh, a question, or the delightful possibility that a chicken really might be a dinosaur.
Happy reading, pondering, and noticing the prehistoric possibilities all around us!