Fun Money: Learning Finance Through Stories

Chicken Sundays by Patricia Polacco

On Sundays, Miss Eula fries chicken for her grandsons and their friend. The children want to buy "gramma" the hat she admires in Mr. Kodinski's shop, but the old hat-maker knows that they're the kids who've been throwing eggs at his door. It takes some beautifully decorated Ukrainian Easter eggs and a lot of "chutzpah" to earn his friendship and money for the hat.

Questions for before the story

• Read the title. Ask your child why the story might be called Chicken Sunday. What does she think it means?
• How do you think the people on the cover might be related?
• Does your family do anything special on Saturday or Sunday, like enjoy a special meal?

Questions for after the story

• Have you ever been blamed for something that was not your fault or resulted from a misunderstanding?
• Why did the kids throw eggs at Mr. Kodinski's shop? What clues are there about Mr. Kodinski's past? (Your child may notice that he has a concentration camp number tattooed on his arm.)
• Do you think that his past experience as a prisoner in a concentration camp might make him more suspicious of people wanting to hurt him?

Activities to do together

• Create a picture collage of a family room. Read aloud the author's acknowledgement on the title page. Encourage your child to notice the colorful textiles throughout the book. Supply old magazines, scraps of printed fabric, scissors, glue, paints, and brushes. Let your child create her own family room scenes, complete with photographs of pretend family members.
• Advertise the Pysanky eggs. In the story, the narrator repeats some of the words the customers use to describe the eggs the children have decorated: "beautiful," "splendid," "intricate," and "glorious." Ask your child to list other synonyms for "beautiful," then use these descriptors to write an ad or make a sign advertising the eggs.
• Create a cookbook. Collect recipes of favorite or traditional Sunday family meals and ask your child decorate the cover.

Family Involvement

• Pysanky eggs appear in another book by Patricia Polacco, Uncle Vova's Tree. Families who celebrate Christmas will especially enjoy reading this story. Like the author's family, you may be inspired to hang decorated eggs on your tree.
• Egg decorating has become an Easter tradition for many American families. The local library is likely to have several arts-and-crafts books that show various methods of dyeing and decorating eggs.

Community Connection

• Invite a person who has lived in Russia or the Ukraine to show your child examples of traditionally crafted objects, such as nesting dolls and painted eggs.

Additional Resources:

• Uncle Vova's Tree by Patricia Polacco. Another warm story that offers us a look at an old Russian tradition.
• Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco. Like Chicken Sunday, this story also involves beautifully hand-painted eggs, the traditions of the Ukraine, and a nice old woman.

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