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.
Themes
Friendship and Betrayal
In The Trouble With Chickens, Cronin develops the theme of Friendship and Betrayal. By showing which characters are willing to act out of friendship and forgiveness and which are quick to betray their friends, Cronin adds moral nuance to her hero protagonist, J.J., and villain, Vince.
One of the most significant betrayals in the book is when Sugar colludes with Vince to trick J.J. into coming into the house. While she is not yet friends with J.J., she is his neighbor, and she knows that he is trying to help her mother in good faith. This turn of events saddens J.J., as he thinks, “I knew there wasn’t a single chicken in that room I could trust” (79). Moosh also feels betrayed by Sugar’s manipulative actions and expresses her disappointment in her daughter’s choices: “Finally Moosh understood that Sugar had been coming and going to this house for a long time. ‘You faked a kidnapping? With Vince the Funnel?’ Moosh raised her voice so high, I thought she might cough up a vocal cord” (92).
In a suspenseful plot twist, scheming dachshund Vince also betrays Sugar. As her burgeoning friendship with the vicious dog quickly goes wrong, Sugar realizes that she had misjudged Vince’s real feelings and intentions and that her trust in him was misplaced. While Sugar initially believed that Vince would let her come into the house and enjoy Barb’s books and other indoor comforts, such as the TV, she eventually realizes that Vince plans to get rid of her and her family. This betrayal comes as a shock to a young and naive Sugar, who cannot believe Vince’s terrible plan for her family. So upset over the situation, Sugar faints.
Vince’s betrayal of Sugar confirms his cruelty and dishonesty, making him a frightening villain in the narrative. J.J.’s willingness to forgive Sugar and the other chickens and become friends, on the other hand, depicts him in a more heroic, kind-hearted light. This cements the contrast between the novel’s protagonist, J.J., and its antagonist, Vince.
Purpose and Belonging
In the story, J.J.’s work to solve the mystery of the missing chicks ultimately renews his sense of purpose and gives him a feeling of belonging on the farm.
At the beginning of the story, J.J. feels that he has nothing purposeful or interesting to do on the farm. While his life used to be full of rescue and adventure, living on the farm was dull and pointless. He fondly reminisces about the old days when he went on rescue missions to save human lives, ranging from being lowered from helicopters and strapped to snowmobiles to flying first-class and rescuing a lost skier in the French Alps. J.J.’s memories highlight how useless he feels living on the farm, just lazing around with no exciting work to do. He reminisces about the honors he received for his life-saving work, bitterly noting that his current life has no such purpose and the biggest challenge he faces is dodging pebbles baby chickens toss at him.
Without any missions to give him a purpose, J.J. feels he does not belong on the farm. However, this feeling changes when J.J. can finally apply his search-and-rescue skills to help the chickens escape Vince. He thinks, “This wasn’t a search anymore. This was a rescue. Rescue is where I belong” (68). By extending his forgiveness to the chickens and working with their family, J.J. begins a friendship with them, and this adds to his sense of belonging in his new home. With this conclusion, Cronin highlights the connection between friendships and feelings of belonging, demonstrating that J.J.’s good relationship with the chickens is as important as his sense of purpose, and with both, he will feel more at home on the farm.
The Value of Teamwork
In her book, Cronin’s characters must put their differences and distrust aside and work together to outwit Vince, the jealous dog who plans to get rid of all of Barb’s other pets. By describing how J.J., Moosh, and the chicks successfully work together and survive their misadventure, Cronin develops the theme of The Value of Teamwork.
At the beginning of the story, J.J. and the chickens do not work well together despite having the same purpose. From the moment J.J. agrees to work for Moosh, he tries his best to follow the clues and unravel the mystery of the missing chicks. However, because of the chickens’ annoying and intrusive behavior and their ignorance of the search-and-rescue process, J.J. and the chickens find little common ground and are constantly in conflict with each other. For instance, Sugar nags and insults him when he calls off the search, antagonizing him due to his fear of getting wet, overshadowing looking for her lost brother and sister.
Because of this, the search group is quickly fragmented, with Sugar joining her coconspirator, Vince, Moosh rushing into the house alone, and J.J. and Dirt training in the doghouse together. Cronin shows that this disunity leads to disaster: Vince easily locks J.J. in the dog crate and traps the clueless chickens in the house. However, J.J. and the chickens turn things around when they finally begin to communicate and work together. J.J. asks Sugar for the truth, and she finally helps him understand the whole story. J.J. persuades Moosh to listen to him and work with him and the chicks: “Moosh, that funnel is the only thing between Vince and your chicks,’ I said. ‘Once that thing is off, you’re doomed. All of you’” (99).
J.J., a capable and independent professional, is not used to depending on others in his missions—especially those who betrayed him in the past. Nevertheless, he accepts that their only choice is to work as a team: “I knew that they were counting on me, but it suddenly hit me that I was counting on them, too” (103). By describing how the pets worked together to outsmart Vince and save each other, Cronin highlights the value of cooperation and teamwork in overcoming challenges.
Approaches to Problem-Solving
The characters in The Trouble With Chickens must employ various strategic approaches to problem-solving to navigate the challenge in front of them: saving the missing chicks from the villainous antagonist, Vince. To do so, J.J., Moosh, Dirt, and Sugar must combine logical reasoning, emotional intelligence, and adaptability while learning to work together as a team.
Initially, J.J. relies on his methodical training as a search-and-rescue dog to analyze the situation systematically. He first gathers clues, such as the language used in the ransom note, which allows him to narrow down potential culprits to chart a path forward. Deciding that the words in the note denote an inside pet, J.J. has an initial sketch of who the writer may be. Then, he decides to track the scent associated with the note to get closer to who wrote it. His logical approach and ability to make deductions based on concrete evidence highlight how he uses critical thinking in problem-solving to work toward a solution.
However, the narrative soon demonstrates that challenges often arise with unexpected twists that require flexibility in decision-making. For example, as Moosh grapples with her fear of confronting Vince, J.J. acknowledges that it is important to address emotional barriers. His awareness of Moosh’s emotions demonstrates that successful problem-solving isn’t about logic alone; it also involves understanding and supporting one another, including when teams hit roadblocks. Additionally, J.J.’s decision to lay low during a meeting in the hiding place reflects his desire to listen to his intuition—something he has failed to do before, resulting in consequences. His experiences in the past teach him that gut feelings can and should guide actions when logical reasoning falls short or must play a secondary role.
The collaborative efforts of the team further support their strategies as they combine their diverse skill sets and perspectives. For example, Dirt takes the initiative to create a diagram so they can make their game plan silently. This serves as a visual tool for strategizing their plan to defeat Vince. Working together, the group can collaboratively brainstorm and refine their approach in real time. The author also demonstrates that even a well-trained dog like J.J. can run into trouble and need help from others. Notably, he broke into the house to look for the chickens, rushing in and relying on his adrenaline. Finding himself trapped in the house, he needs the team’s help to get out. This underscores the interplay between analytical thinking, emotion, creative approaches, and instinctual responses the team cultivates and must use to get out of sticky situations.
By demonstrating that approaches to problem-solving are a collaborative effort, the author highlights the importance of working together as a team. The characters’ different experiences emphasize that there is never one single way to overcome an obstacle; rather, successful problem-solving often necessitates a collaborative integration of various diverse strategies and individuals. Through J.J., Moosh, Dirt, and Sugar’s experiences, the author highlights that navigating challenges benefits from a combination of logical thought, emotional reason, creativity, and collective action. By putting their heads and hearts together, the team can successfully outsmart Vince and save the chicks.
