37 pages • 1 hour read
Doreen CroninThe Trouble With Chickens
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 9-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Vince the Funnel”
Vince is a brown dog who lives with Barb in the farmhouse. J.J. calls him “Vince the Funnel” because he wears a white medical cone on his head. J.J. met Vince just a couple of weeks earlier but has not gotten to know him because J.J. lives outside while Vince lives inside. All J.J. knows about Vince is that a dog walker comes to walk him regularly and that some animals think Vince is very strange. Moosh runs around the yard, yelling that Vince stole her chicks, while Dirt and Sugar try to understand what is going on.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Funnel Vision”
Vince looks out the window at J.J., who is sniffing around the yard, and Moosh, who is following him and squawking. Vince thinks J.J. is a “loser” and mocks him for being a “Hero Dog.” Vince thinks threateningly about J.J., suggesting that they’ll soon meet and have a fight. Vince jumps down from the window and accidentally breaks a lamp, scaring two little chicks in the process.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Why Me?”
Vince leaves the window, and J.J. realizes that the note was a set-up and that there will not be a rendezvous. Sugar rushes up to J.J. and demands that he go into the house to get Poppy and Sweetie. J.J. insists on waiting and gathering more information. When Sugar tries to get through the dog door of the house, J.J. puts her in the bird bath to calm down. J.J. cannot believe that his life has changed from performing dramatic rescues to negotiating with chickens.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Come on Down!”
J.J. ventures up the back stairs and peeks through the dog door to the inside of the house. He sees part of the kitchen and a long dark hallway with the TV room at the end of it. He notices Vince sitting on the couch, and when Vince spots him, he comes charging toward the door, only to get stuck because of his cone. J.J. returns to the birdbath where he left Sugar, but she is gone. In her place, there is a frightening note: “Three down, one to go” (53).
J.J. knows that Sugar is now in the house, too, and tries to strategize with Moosh and Dirt. Since J.J. cannot get into the house, he decides that Dirt might be their only hope.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Rehearsal”
J.J. patiently trains Dirt to become a “search and rescue chicken” (59). Using chicken feed as a treat, J.J. helps Dirt remember her plan to run in the dog door, sneak under the couch, and look for any clues about her siblings. While J.J. is training Dirt, an anxious Moosh sneaks away and gets into the house.
Chapter 14 Summary: “All in the Timing”
Vince is pleased that Moosh has made it inside. She furiously pecks him, but he calmly reassures her that her chicks are safe. He reveals that he does not care about her or the chicks but wants J.J. Vince will not reveal what he wants to do with J.J. and suddenly hears him coming up the back steps.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Covered in Dirt”
Convinced that Vince would hurt Moosh, J.J. rushes inside the house. The long hallway rug expectedly sweeps him off his feet and slams him into the wall. He realizes that Vince must have been talking to Moosh and that this could have been part of his plan. J.J. loses consciousness.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Dog Day Afternoon”
Vince is thrilled that he has captured all the chickens and that J.J. passed out in the house. Vince tries to calm Moosh, persuading her he is their friend and that she and her chicks are all safe in the house. He asks one of the chicks to get them some feed and puts on the TV for them to watch. Vince is pleased that his plan to get rid of all the chickens and J.J. is going so well.
Chapters 9-16 Analysis
In these passages, the author continues to inject humor into the work through character descriptions and nicknames, which lighten the narrative mood of the ongoing mystery. For example, when J.J. and Dirt go flying down the hallway, J.J. thinks, “Dirt was as good as scrambled egg if she slammed into that wall” (71). J.J. nicknames the villainous dog, Vince, “Vince the Funnel” because of his large medical cone, which makes him resemble a big funnel. J.J. compares Vince’s appearance to “a cross between a dachshund and a lamp” (37). While Vince is a frightening dog with malicious intentions, the author softens his presence in the story by humorously presenting his actions. For instance, when Vince tries to charge through the dog door and attack J.J., he is unsuccessful because of his medical cone, which makes him clumsy.
In these chapters, the author deepens her characterization of J.J. by revealing more about his backstory through his inner thoughts. Frustrated with Sugar, J.J. privately reflects, “I thought about the small town in the Midwest that had held a parade in my honor after I pulled three tornado victims out from under a mountain of debris. If you had told me then that I’d someday be dodging pebbles tossed by a baby chicken, I would have bitten you. Hard. Like I said, I didn’t belong here” (48). J.J. shows that he is a hard worker and keeps his promises. Despite J.J.’s boredom and frustration, he still works hard to find a solution to Moosh’s problem, continuing to develop the theme of Purpose and Belonging. For instance, J.J. patiently teaches Dirt, the little chick, how to safely get in the house and spy on Vince. He is successful in teaching Dirt in an hour what took working dogs two years to perfect, demonstrating his skill as a teacher. J.J. knows that his rescue mission will put him in conflict with the unpredictable Vince, but he stays true to his word: “He spent his time inside. I spent my time outside. I preferred to keep things that way. But a deal is a deal, even if you make it with a crazy chicken” (37). By putting his feelings of annoyance aside and helping Moosh and the chicks, J.J. shows that he has integrity and is committed to his job, no matter how frustrating it is. His ability to help Moosh and the chicks establishes the theme of The Value of Teamwork.
J.J.’s characterization connects with Cronin’s emerging theme of Friendship and Betrayal. J.J. trusts that the chickens will listen to his advice and instructions so they can find Poppy and Sweetie. However, Moosh ignores his plan and runs into the house without J.J.’s knowledge. This betrayal surprises J.J. and makes his efforts to train Dirt useless. The author adds to this theme with Moosh’s interactions with Vince the Funnel, who is keen to persuade her that he will be a friend to her and the chicks. However, Vince’s inner monologue reveals that he plans to betray Moosh and the chicks later: “‘See? Nothing to worry about, Mom. You can leave anytime you like,’ I lied…I’m going to get rid of them all and I don’t even have to leave the house” (73-74). By showing that J.J. is a trustworthy friend while Vince is an unreliable liar, the author adds to the contrast between the heroic protagonist, J.J., and the nefarious villain, Vince.
