37 pages 1 hour read

Doreen Cronin

The Trouble With Chickens

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2011

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Chapter 17-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 17 Summary: “Dog in the Can”

J.J. wakes up locked inside the dog crate in the kitchen. He sees Vince looking at him, with Poppy and Sweetie on either side of him. Moosh reveals that the chicks never needed rescuing and that Vince wanted to lure J.J. inside. Thinking that Moosh knew about the plan, J.J. is angry with her. Vince, Poppy, and Sweetie taunt J.J., who cannot get out of the crate. J.J. notices a note on the fridge asking the dog walker to take Vince to the vet for an ear tube surgery, and he realizes that the dog walker will probably take him instead of Vince. A frustrated J.J. sits in the crate and tries to think of a solution.

Chapter 18 Summary: “Encyclopedia Chickannia”

Sugar comes into the kitchen to talk to J.J. She explains how J.J. knocked himself out, and the chickens and Vince worked together to lock him in the crate. Sugar reveals that she ran away from the birdbath and came into the house voluntarily. As she talks, J.J. notices that she is using large vocabulary, like “behoove” and “rendezvous”—the same terms that were on the ransom note.