lester l. laminack by lester l. laminack illustrated by henry cole ... but trouble was brewing in...
TRANSCRIPT
children’s
www.peachtree-online.com
ISBN 978 1 56145 564 5 $15.95
printed�and�bound�in�singapore
written by
illustrated by
LesterL. Laminack
Henry Cole
Everything was quiet on the
Tuckers’ farm…until the day
that peacock showed up…
When a glamorous visitor lands
unexpectedly in their midst and
begins attracting new customers,
three unhappy hens protest:
“How come we do all the
hard work and he gets
all the attention?”
To keep the peace, the wise old
hound dog makes a suggestion:
“Why don’t you
just swap jobs?”
What will happen when three
gussied-up hens spend the day
strutting and prancing down by
the road? And will that peacock
ever figure out how to lay an egg?
Lester L. LaminackLester�L.�Laminack�is�a�specialist�in�
children’s�literacy�and
professor�emeritus�
at�Western�carolina
university.�he�has
written�a�number�of
books�for�children,
including�saTurdays and Teacakes and
snoW day!�a�familiar�speaker�at�con-
ferences,�Laminack�is�also�the�author
of�several�professional�books�for�
educators.�he�lives�in�north�carolina.
www.lesterlaminack.com
Henry Coleis�the�illustrator�of
more�than�forty
books�for�children,
including�the�New
York Times best-
selling�The Leprechaun's GoLd by
pamela�duncan�edwards,�the�best-
selling�LiTTLe Bo by�Julie�andrews
edwards,�and TanGo Makes Three by
peter�parnell�and�Justin�richardson,
and�oink! by�Margie�palatini,�in�addi-
tion�to�many�of�his�own�picture�books.
he�lives�in�Florida.
www.henrycole.net
ISBN 13: 978 1 56145 564 5
ISBN 10: 1 56145 564 4 $15.95
LA
MIN
AC
K /
CO
LE
Thre
e H
ens a
nd a
Peacock
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Published by PEACHTREE PUBLISHERS1700 Chattahoochee AvenueAtlanta, Georgia 30318-2112
www.peachtree-online.com
Text © 2011 by Lester L. LaminackIllustrations © 2011 by Henry Cole
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations inprinted reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Illustrations created with watercolor, ink, and colored pencil on 100% rag,archival watercolor paper. Text typeset in Microsoft Corporation’s Tahoma by Matthew Carter; title typeset in Blue Vinyl Font’s Meringue BV by Jess Latham.
Printed and manufactured in Singapore10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition
Laminack, Lester L., 1956-Three hens and a peacock / written by Lester L. Laminack ;
illustrated by Henry Cole.p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-56145-564-5[1. Farm life--Fiction. 2. Contentment--Fiction. 3. Peacocks--Fiction.
4. Chickens--Fiction. 5. Hounds--Fiction. 6. Dogs--Fiction.] I. Cole, Henry, 1955- ill. II. Title.
PZ7.L1815Thr 2011[E]--dc22
2010031989
Dedicated to the spirit of Mr. Rogers who always said, “I like you just the way you are.”
—L. L. L.
Written by Lester L. Laminack Illustrated by Henry Cole
For Winnie, with much affection
—H. C.
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Things were quiet on the Tuckers’ farm.
The cows chewed their cud.
The hens clucked and pecked
and laid their eggs.
The old hound stretched out on the porch, watching and listening.
Once in a while someone would stop to buy tomatoes or corn,
perhaps a quart of milk.
Nothing unusual happened there.
Until…
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The cows and the hens and the old hound kept
right on doing what they’d always done.
But that peacock had never lived on a farm.
He had no idea what to do.
So he spread his fancy feathers and set to shrieking.
…that peacock showed up.
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Eventually, the peacock wandered down to the road.
When cars whizzed by, he shook his feathers
and cried out in his loudest voice.
Of course, folks stopped for a closer look.
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Day after day, more folks stopped to admire
the peacock, and they all bought
tomatoes and corn, eggs and milk.
Business on the Tuckers’ farm
was booming!
Everyone seemed happy to
have visitors stopping by…
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“Tha
t laz
ype
acoc
k gets all the attention
and we do all the work!”
…but trouble was brewing in the henhouse.
The hens were squawking and clucking
and flapping their wings. “We do all the work
around here. I’d like to see that peacock lay one single egg.”
“Exactly. He just struts around screaming.
I suppose fancy feathers are more important than laying eggs.”
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The peacock had heard every word.
For days, he moped about, moaning and groaning.
“I wish I could be more useful around here.”
“Humph,” clucked one hen. The others ruffled their feathers.
The old hound stretched and slowly raised his head.
“Why not let the peacock
stay here to be useful while
you hens take the glamorous
job down by the road?”
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“We’ll stop traffic for sure.
Why, you girls know I can
strut with the best of them.”
The peacock perked up.
“Let’s do it,” he declared.
“Tomorrow I’ll stay here,
sit on a nest, and cluck.”
The three hens began
clucking to one another.
“What a wonderful plan!”
“Yes, it’s a fabulous idea. Oh, ladies
we simply must fancy up our feathers
tonight. And nothing but our brightest
beads, bangles, and bows.”
“And we’ll get
all gussied up,”
said the hens.
“We’ll be so
glamorous!”
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At sunrise the next morning
the hens strutted down to the road.
The peacock marched right to the henhouse and poked his head inside.
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The peacock sucked in his tummy and wiggled from left
to right, trying to squeeze through the tiny henhouse door.
His front half was in. His back half was out.
The hens flocked by the road, waiting for a car.
When they saw one approaching, they clucked and
squawked and flapped their wings in a flurry of feathers.
But every car whizzed right on by.
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Down by the road, those hens
tried every chicken trick
they knew.
Still no cars stopped.
Finally, the peacock made it into the henhouse.
He held his breath and pushed with all his might, but
no matter how hard he tried he could not lay a single egg.
Not one.
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The old hound stretched out
on the porch, watching and listening.
“What’s that peacock doing in the
henhouse?” asked Farmer Tucker.
“Who knows,” said Mrs. Tucker.
“And what are those hens doing down
by the road? Not a one of them
is up here laying eggs.”
“Well, the way things are going,
we aren’t likely to have anyone buying
eggs today,” said Farmer Tucker.
“We need that peacock down there
stopping cars!”
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I AM helping! he thought. He squirmed back and
forth until he popped out of the cramped henhouse.
Then he trotted off to find the hens.
When the peacock heard that, he smiled the
biggest smile you ever saw on a bird’s beak.
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“What a
day.”The exhausted hens were all clucked out.
Every feather was out of place.
“We couldn’t get one car to
stop.”
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he said. “I’m just not meant for it.”
One hen nodded, “I put on my stellar strut and even I couldn’t
stop a single car,” she said. “I have to hand it to you, Fancy
Feathers, your job is harder than it looks.”
“It’s true. Why, most of them didn’t even slow
down.”
The peacock met the hens
as they trudged up the road.
“I can tell you I’m no good at laying eggs,”
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The other hens agreed. The peacock looked relieved.
So the hens marched back to the henhouse.
The peacock strutted down to the road.
The old hound stretched out on the porch,
watching and listening.
And things were quiet again
on the Tuckers’ farm.
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