#blogbookaday: The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet!

Summary:  “La Paz is a happy, but noisy village. A little peace and quiet would make it just right. So the villagers elect the bossy Don Pepe as their mayor. Before long, singing of any kind is outlawed. Even the teakettle is afraid to whistle!

But there is one noisy rooster who doesn’t give two mangos about this mayor’s silly rules. Instead, he does what roosters were born to do. He sings: “Kee-kee-ree-KEE!”

Carmen Deedy’s masterfully crafted allegory and Eugene Yelchin’s bright, whimsical mixed-media paintings celebrate the spirit of freedom — and the courage of those who are born to sing at any cost.” (Taken from Goodreads)

Review: This is a powerful story of standing up for what is right even if it costs you everything you have. And by doing so, showing others how to be strong and brave too. The rooster in this story sang for all those people in the village who had forgotten how or were too scared to do so. And in the end, when it mattered most, the little gallito and the villagers were able to be strong together making for a very loud, but very happy village.

Personal Reaction: I truly love Carmen Agra Deedy’s writing style – she writes in a very traditional folkloric way that lends itself to be very comforting to read. Not only, that they repetitive stanzas throughout the story add to the comfort of the storytelling in this book. What I loved about Eugene Yelchin’s illustrations is that when the story was focused on the gallito, the illustrations were very colorful, with beautiful, smooth lines and when the mayor was the focus, the colors were more drab, the lines more abrupt and the illustrations were more angular over all. It was an interesting juxtaposition between the two characters. I really liked this story and can see it being used in a elementary school classroom to talk about social injustice, bullying and freedom.

Title: The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet!
Author: Carmen Agra Deedy
Illustrator: Eugene Yelchin
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: January 31, 2017

This is a new idea I’m trying on my blog this year that was inspired by @donalynbooks and @heisereads – to provide a brief review of a picture book every day of 2018. You’ll get a brief summary of the story, a review of the content, illustrations and theme, my personal reaction to the book and all the pertinent publication information! Enjoy!