Lena the Chicken (But Really a Dinosaur!) -- Linda Bailey, Hardcover

Chicken Run meets Tiny T. Rex in this funny farmyard tale of a feisty chicken who is sure she is a dinosaur!

Includes a die-cut cover -- and back matter about how chickens (and all other birds) are the living descendants of dinosaurs!

Lena lives in a chicken coop, and she looks a lot like a chicken. But deep down, she's convinced that she's a . . . DINOSAUR! She can feel it in her bones. Lena just doesn't understand the scaredy chickens in her family, and they don't understand her either, with her ferociousness and big ideas. The people on the farm are also baffled . . . except for little Madeline, who thinks Lena has PERSONALITY.

And then, when a dastardly weasel turns up and threatens the coop, Lena's fearful family chickens out AGAIN. It's up to Lena to unleash her inner dinosaur like never before -- to save the coop and show this silly bunch of chickens how to stand up for themselves. And when Madeline's science fair project shows that chickens are the closest living relatives in the world to dinosaurs, Lena's family finally starts to see that -- holy hen house! -- they are all dinosaurs too!

Author: Linda Bailey
Publisher: Tundra Books (NY)
Published: 10/28/2025
Pages: 56
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
ISBN: 9781774880135
Audience: Ages 4-8

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2025
Publishers Weekly 08/04/2025

About the Author
LINDA BAILEY has written almost forty books for children, including three much-loved books about dinosaurs: If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur, Princesses Versus Dinosaurs and The Great Dinosaur Sleepover. Her books have been translated into twenty-two languages and have won a wide range of awards. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.

K-FAI STEELE is the author-illustrator of A Normal Pig and All Eyes on Ozzy! and has illustrated a number of other books, including Does a Bulldozer Have a Butt? and the Lone Wolf series. Born in Charlton, Massachusetts, she now lives in Stockholm, Sweden.