Lena the Chicken (But Really a Dinosaur!) [Hardcover]

THREE STARRED REVIEWS! • 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!One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2025
One of CBC Books' Best Canadian Children's Books of 2025
A Canadian Children’s Book Centre's Best Book for Kids & Teens, Spring 2026 — Starred Selection
Nominated for the 2027 Washington Children's Choice Book Award
Shortlisted for the 2027 Chocolate Lily Award
A Vermont Department of Libraries 2027 Red Clover Book Award Nominee
Longlisted for CBC Kids Reads 2026

PRAISE FOR Lena lC,