Moon Rooster - Hardcover

Halsey Gershator is a Marshall Cavendish author.

K-Gr 3-An insomniac rooster crows up the moon so it won't be so dark. Each night the moon gets bigger, the hens are impressed, and he's convinced that the shoes, pots and pans, and clocks the people throw at him are gifts of appreciation. When the full moon rises, folks at an all-night dance vow to put the rooster in a stew pot so they can get some sleep. His confidence shaken, he flees to a tree where he thinks for a week while the moon wanes from lack of attention. But then, with the help of his rooster friends, now every night they crow the moon up on schedule (except for once a month when they rest) because "-if not for a noisy rooster, who will cockadoodle do it?" Halsey's pastiche of collage illustrations overlaid with paint resembles folk-art poultry on black backgrounds. Chicken's names, labels, asides, and comments are hand lettered in gray print and won't show well to groups but are viewable close-up. Tinted cutouts from antique sources decorate some pages, as well. The humorous, tongue-in-cheek tone of the telling and the original song at the end that encourages audiences to help sing the story make this a strong entry for storytimes.

Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA

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