Instructional Information:
The Use of Nonfiction, Realistic Fiction, and Fantasy in This Story

Nonfiction:

1. The ranchette, the family that lives there, Spike the chicken and the other animals in the story are real.
2. Spike comes into the house occasionally, on her own, when the back door is left open.
3. Spike and the other chickens share a pen with the goats. Spike squeezes through the fence nearly every day, and visits the horse corral, where she eats horse feed, drinks from the trough, stands in the horses’ shadows on very hot days or stands under the horses when it rains. She also visits the pig.
4. Spike can crow like a rooster.
5. All the animals make noise in unison only when they see Janice peering out the back door at them early in the morning, to let her know they are hungry.
6. Spike eats human food, cat and dog food (which she steals from their bowls), and horse feed. Spike stood outside the back door clucking continuously and watching the family eating breakfast until someone brought her some food. This started a routine that occurs every day.
7. When a goat was having difficulty giving birth, Spike squawked loudly for a long time until Janice came out of the house and walked to the goat pen, where she helped the goat give birth.
8. Spike takes her naps on the back of one of the goats.
9. Spike stood and watched the television screen for a long time one day.
10. Cockatiels can chirp, whistle and imitate other sounds, such as a dog barking.
11. Spike climbed into the saddle of the horse statue in the living room and took a nap. To do this, she hopped from the floor to the couch, then hopped up on the arm of the couch, then jumped up on the shelf nearby, then jumped onto the hindquarters of the horse and walked forward to the saddle.
12. Spike spent several minutes talking to a teddy bear one of the kids left on the floor in the house.
13. Spike lays turquoise eggs and makes a big fuss over each one.
14. Spike left her claw prints in the fresh cement on the front porch.

Realistic Fiction:

1. The Cowboy George Show is not real, and any relationship to an actual show by that name is purely coincidental.
2. The family never used the technique for putting a chicken to sleep; that technique has been used by a friend of mine, Keith Sayre, from Missouri.
3. No one remembers what was on TV when Spike was watching it.
4. Gary carrying Spike to the front porch and scolding her for leaving foot prints is fictitious. In reality, the family thought the incident was funny and left the claw prints in the cement.

Fantasy:

1. Spike being interviewed by a TV Host, and conversing in English.
2. Spike eating Zach’s cereal and transferring dog chow into his bowl.
3. Spike getting angry when seeing the roast chicken commercial and the cockatiels on TV.
4. Spike pecking on the pig’s stomach to wake him up, then running away.

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