Yes, I know there are farmyards-full of children’s stories about roosters, and even a subgenre of books about roosters who, for some reason, can’t crow. Either they lost their crow in some mysterious mixup, have a sore throat, were raised by parents of another species or just never learned how.
Bob, the title character in Tracey Campbell Pearson’s very funny story, belongs to this latter category. Since he’s lived with only hens and never met a rooster, the poor guy has no idea what a crow sounds like. Well, you know what happens – he asks the cat, the dog, and pretty much every animal he bumps into, if they can teach him how to crow. Spoiler alert – they can’t. However, they do teach him their sounds, so at least Bob builds his vocabulary.
The funniest part comes during the long, dark, scary night, when an unseen voice keeps asking, “Whooo?” Whooo?” and each time Bob answers, “Bob.” As you can imagine, young children find this uproariously funny.
Finally, Bob meets another rooster and learns how to cock-a-doodle-doo. A slightly unexpected ending gives Bob a chance to use this new talent, as well as the other interesting words he’s learned.
Children love to act out the animal sounds in the story, which I set to a tune for extra fun and engagement. But it’s the scene with the owl that really tickles children’s funny bones. You’ll love hearing them laugh at this inspired silliness.
“Bob” is available here and on other bookselling sites.
Music (and Science) For Young Children 