Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Author: Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Illustrator: Lois Ehlert

This is one of those books that I had always known about, but I'm ashamed to admit that I read it for the first time just last year. Needless to say, I was surprised and blown away... mostly because I expected it to be about how to potty train a chicken. But I was also blown away because it's one of those books that really rolls off the tongue. A lot of picture books are written with a sing-songy verse that feels forced and cheesy. Here, you open the book, the text grabs you by the hand, pulls you along, and the next thing you know you're in the middle of some crazy alphabet mayhem. It's so much fun that, if you're lucky, you might even forget that you still have a chicken running wild in your apartment, pooping at will.

Chicka chicka boom boom. :(

Side Note: The illustrations look exactly like the template for my fifth grade yearbook... and pretty much every yearbook from the early nineties.

Bonus Note: There is an audio version of this book read by the great Ray Charles, which will be sampled on the next Kanye West single (which is also called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom).