Emma and the Coyote

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“You better watch out!” everyone is warning Emma. “Coyotes are
smarter than chickens.” Alas, Emma is a chicken who does not like to
be told what to do. She especially does not like to be told that she is
not as smart as a coyote. So, while all the other chickens in the
barnyard stick to the safety of a fenced-in chicken pen, Emma goes off
looking for trouble. She finds it soon enough when she spots a
suspicious tail lurking behind a fence. Emma alerts the farmer’s wife,
and the coyote is chased away. But what does she get for her trouble?
Another warning. “Good girl, Emma!” the farmer’s wife says. “But
you watch out! Coyotes are smarter than chickens.” Emma decides that
the only way to prove she is smartest is to help the farmer catch the
coyote. But Emma’s plans suffers a major setback when she finds
herself on the wrong side of the barnyard fence, face to face with the
hungry coyote.

“Pride goeth before a fall, even for chickens” is the moral of this
second chicken chronicle by popular children’s author Margriet Ruurs.
The first, Emma’s Eggs (1996), was about the chicken’s copying the
farmer’s wife’s behavior and hatching her first egg. Barbara
Spurll’s bold, colorful full-page illustrations are equally energetic
and amusing as they portray Emma persevering in her hilarious,
bird-brained way. Highly recommended.