Chicken Trek

Oscar Noodleman #3

by Stephen Manes

Oscar spends the summer with his inventor cousin traveling around the United States in a Picklemobile eating chicken in the bag to win a contest, while being pursued by an angry woman with mystical powers, who is also determined to win the contest.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Food, Chapter Books, Young Adult, Humor

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Stephen Manes (born 1949) wrote the "Digital Tools" column that appeared in every issue of Forbes until recently when he took a break. He is expected to return in the future. He is also co-host and co-executive editor of the public television series "PC World's Digital Duo," a program he helped create.

Manes was previously the Personal Computers columnist for the Science Times section of The New York Times and a regular columnist for InformationWeek. He has been on the technology beat since 1982 as a columnist and contributing editor for PC Magazine, PC/Computing, PC Sources, PCjr, and Netguide. The now defunct Marketing Computers named him one of the four most influential writers about the computer industry and called him "a strong critical voice."

From April 1995 to December 2008, he also wrote the "Full Disclosure" column, anchoring the back page of PC World.

Manes is coauthor of the best-selling and definitive biography Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America. He also wrote The Complete MCI Mail Handbook and programmed much of the Starfixer and UnderGround WordStar software packages.

Manes is also the author of more than 30 books for children and young adults, including the Publishers Weekly bestseller Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday! and the award-winning Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!, which was adapted for the public television series Wonderworks. His books include the cult favorites Chicken Trek and The Obnoxious Jerks and have won a commendation from the National Science Foundation, International Reading Association Children's Choice awards, and kid-voted awards in five states. His writing credits also include television programs produced by ABC Television and KCET/Los Angeles and the 70s classic 20th Century-Fox movie Mother, Jugs & Speed.

Manes is currently serving his fourth term as an elected member of the National Council of the Authors Guild, the country's oldest organization of book authors. Born and raised in the hills of Pittsburgh, he now lives in hillier Seattle.

Reviews

[Joe]

Holy shit how do I remember the details of this insanely weird book so well?

[Joseph]

Palette cleanser.

[寿理 宮本]

The first strange thing that happened to Oscar Noodleman that I ever read!* This is definitely the best volume by quite a bit: art is much more consistent, there's a very clear story from start to finish with Oscar's helping his cousin turning into a nationwide eating contest (although the matter of extremely rich Donald being friends with not-rich Oscar is still weird but at least understandable in terms of setting up a twist later in the book), and it's totally readable even for anyone who didn't read the prior books!

Probably the single thing I don't like is Donald's use of an incredibly dated word that really isn't good to use but was acceptable at the time. I want to say "at least it's not the N-word" but that feels like I'm just making excuses, since an uncensored N-word in a book will make me want to immediately stop reading. Thing is I guess it's still a word that gets past the radar for various reasons, including that most people don't realise it's based on a slur (while there are NO excuses for the N-word).

One VERY SMALL error in an otherwise fun book! Recommended for readers looking for a lighthearted cross-country adventure!

*Not that I remember how many YEARS ago, but yes

[Sharon Buxton]

B. fiction, children's fiction, humor, fantasy, Mom's stash, keep

[Chase Bouzigard]

This is a great story about the ultimate chicken eating quest!

[Ruth]

A perfect book. Best book I have ever read.

[Erika]

One of my favorites as a kid and I still have the ex-library copy I bought and wore out. The whimsical illustrations are by Ron Barrett, who also illustrated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

[Curtis]

The main character, Oscar J. Noodleman visits his cousin who is an inventor. They decide to participate in a contest eat a Bagful o' Chicken at every one of the 211 franchises in 60 days. But they are being pursued by Madame Gulbenkian, who sees all, knows all, casts magic spells, and can swallow a whole chicken leg in one gulp.

I must have read this in elementary school. I remember loving it but I don't remember much else. I'll most likely pick it up again and read it just for fun!

[Kevin Quinley]

Boy ruins uncle's expensive camera. Drives around country attempting to win a contest eating chicken at the most locations to pay for aforementioned camera. Competes against a crazy lady. Begins to turn into a chicken during his travails. The zany tale chooses not to insult the young readers intelligence hinting at the (not unrelated) dangers of marketing and addiction. Highly recommended.

[Kevin]

Pinkwater-esque silliness about a cross-country fried-chicken-eating contest.

[Nick]

Read this book when I was a kid. One of these days I'm gonna read it again as an adult. It's fun, holds up really well, and is a good read no matter how old you are.

[Kendra]

This was a cute and funny children's book :)

[H. Givens]

Just as I remembered it. <3

[Megan]

Chicken Trek was one of my favorite Stephen Mane books. So much fun.