The Joan Bauer Chicken

Sometimes a chicken just has your name on it.  People like Frank Purdue and Murray Bresky of Murray's organic chickens know this.  But I hadn't known this until recently when I received an email from Wendy Thomas of New Hampshire asking if I would like to have a chicken named after me.  I can say truthfully, I'd never once thought of that.  I've had people name their pets after some of the characters in my books, but this was different.  A few other authors, like Meg Cabot, Judy Blume, Jody Piccault, and Laurie Halse Anderson had chickens named after them.  I was deeply honored and said yes.  Then I began to worry about my chicken because I felt we had, you know, bonded somehow.  I felt guilty that I didn't know much about chickens other than the egg part and the roasting part, and I felt guilty especially when I went to the grocery story and stood by the poultry section.  But the Joan Bauer chicken, I was assured, would never be eaten.  And with that news, I did buy a Murray's organic chicken and threw it into my cart, but I averted my eyes when I sprinkled it with salt, pepper, fresh herbs and olive oil and put it in the oven.   

I began to wonder if my chicken was getting along with the other chickens, because in school I was a bit of a loner.  I wondered how she was doing in gym, because I didn't know I was athletic until I was thirty.  She is, it turns out a bit camera shy, but when she feels like it she lets loose with a serious peep. It's comforting to know there is another Joan Bauer out there waddling through the literary barnyard, doing her best to be a good egg. 

Here's the interview with photos.  Isn't she cute?  I'm so proud. http://simplethrift.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/project-chickens-before-the-eggs-lesson-140-good-egg-interview-with-joan-bauer/