Cock-a-Doodle Dance!

by Christine Tricarico, Rich Deas (Illustrations)

It's all work, no play for the grouchy animals at this Texas farm. Then Rooster catches the jitterbug and things will never be the same!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Music, Fiction, Storytime

40 pages, Hardcover

First published May 22, 2012

Reviews

[Hollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Rhymes. My daughter loved the flow of this book. It was a little long for my taste. But she really liked the different dances and the page where it explains them 🥰

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so much fun. As fun as I find the text though, it's really the illustrations that do me in. On the third page, "The rooster wakes his farm at five to start their working day...," the picture of the cow staring at the reader cracks me up. The facial expressions throughout the book should engage and delight the listeners. The text is rhyming. And the rooster and son remind me a little of Looney Tune characters with the big, big eyes. There is one page which mentions "polka pies" landing on "heifer heads" leaving them "crusty" with "filthy, dirty beds" which is kind of yech (and I can have an 8-year-old-boys' sense of humor--burps, farts, underwear--all funny) but I'm guessing that specific description will go right over most youngsters' heads. Fingers crossed.

[Bailey Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using rhymes and catchy vocabulary, Cock-A-Doodle Dance is such a cute story about a sleepy, boring barnyard that a rooster brings to life when he catches a jitterbug. He spreads his dancing all over the barnyard until the chickens' eggs scramble and cows' milk curdles. At this time the barnyard animals get mad at the rooster for spreading this jitterbug around, which is when the rooster decides they need to clean up the barnyard and only dance at dusk. They find this such a balanced life now, until they see the farmer and his wife have caught the jitterbug! This is such a great book with lovely illustrations! They are very cartoonish and I love all of the expressions used throughout the book.

[Abby Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the ultimate pleasure of hearing & seeing this story 'performed' by the author herself when she visited our library! This story is amazing, very colorful, lively & full of life just like the author Christine Tricarico! All the children who attended were mesmerized with this book this amazing author!

I highly recommend Cock A Doodle Dance for kids ages 2-6 to get them actively involved in the story & really get them learning & DANCING!

- Abby -

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cock A Doodle Dance is such a rockin' read. I have 4 children & my youngest 2YO has been chanting "cock a doodle DANCE!" ever since we brought it home from the library last week.

My husband even enjoys reading this one repeatedly (it's such an easy, fun read) and the pictures are equally amazing!


Angela MacDonald

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storytime!

[Son · Rating 4 out of 5]

Might be a really fun one to read allowed during storytimes. Tells all about the many dances and is NOISY! Fun!

[Brandy Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun fantastic book for the lil' ones ... my grand kids LOVED it & grandma even learned some new 'moves'!

Brandy Holly

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy how this book is able to talk about the importance of getting the important jobs done first so fun can happen after. The children learn the first blank then blank method to be able to understand that one thing has to happen before another thing can happen.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very high energy dance that includes the entire farm. It tells all about the different dances they do- cha-cha, belly dancing, clogging hula, conga, jitterbug, polka, etc...

Super colorful pictures.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun read aloud!

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the animals on the farm have taken up dancing instead of working. can the farm survive? Preschool and up. lots of dance references.

[Crystal Lowenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read. Love the rhyming and a good lesson about all work and no play and all play and no work.

[Tweller83 · Rating 3 out of 5]

1/2/21 read - This one is cute but ends kinda weird. And this library copy is very beat up and ripped. Will have to make a decision about keeping it.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Jessica Calaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 - 7 years

[AJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

1/2/21 read - This one is cute but ends kinda weird. And this library copy is very beat up and ripped. Will have to make a decision about keeping it.

[Shannon Lionheart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Into to types of dance.

[Elizabeth Byers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a bunch of barnyard animals who love to dance and have caught the “jumpin jitterbug” being led by the rooster. The pigs cows, chickens etc. are all bored as can be on the farm, so the little rooster riles everyone up and leads a big dance. All of the animals are so excited they “boogie” and “woogie” and dance for two whole days. Then they all realize they are exhausted and can't do any work. So the rooster sleeps for one whole day to regain energy, and then he finally cock a doodle do’s the next day and wakes all the animals up to get cleaned up and start their work again. They all clean up together and start their daily work again, however when they finally get back to work, they realize the farmers now have the “jumpin jitterbug” and they dance off into the sunset, leaving all their chores behind. I think this book could be used in a music class because it talks about all of the different dances and what not so it could be really educational for the kids. It could also be used in a multicultural lesson because there are several cultural dances that it talks about in the end of the book too with terminology and what not so it would be really interesting to tie those dances to the different cultures and study that.

Tricarico, C., & Deas, R. (2012). Cock-a-doodle dance! New York, NY: Feiwel & Friends.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love dancing in this house whether it is to have a dance party to burn off energy or mom and dad slow dancing in the living room. So we decided to check out, "Cock-a-doodle dance!" by Christine Tricarico and illustrated by Rich Deas. In this book is based on a farm where it is all work and no play. It makes the animals extremely grouchy. Then the Rooster catches the jitterbug and things will never be the same.



The illustrations in this book are so funny and colorful it makes you want to keep looking to see if you see anything different on the pages. The story had a lot of potential to be a great story but I felt like it was a little flat and needed something more to round it out. I loved that they used actual dance terms throughout this story. My kids liked looking at the pictures but really were bored throughout this book.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

When all work and no play leaves the farm animals exhausted and lackluster, Rooster decides to get them up on their feet to start dancing. They love all the fun, but no farm work gets done because they're having too much fun. Rooster decides to compromise with a balance of work and play. The end papers in this story written in rhymng lines contain descriptions of dances, and the illustrations are filled with large, comic images of the farm animals. I'm sure there's an audience for this one with its depiction of farm animals run amuck, but it didn't really appeal to me. Why did Rooster let things get so out of hand in the first place? Some chicken fans may consider this one EGG-cellent, however.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a weird hodge-podge of dance moves with an oddly told story. The farm animals work on a "gloomy, grouchy farm" with no time for enjoyment until rooster's un-introduced child (who then disappears into the story) puts on the radio and dance fever spreads across the farm. The farm animals soon dance themselves to exhaustion. They're so exhausted that they get angry at Rooster for starting the whole dance party, complaining that no work is getting done. Rooster calls for a "Cock-a-doodle Clean Up!" (ugh, not that phrase again) and reserve dancing for the nights.

[Hayle Lincoln · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute picture book! I really enjoyed the story as well as all of the pictures to go along with the words. I really do think children would enjoy this book. I will keep this book in my classroom library for my students to have the convenience to read it, and I think this would also be a good and fun opportunity to talk about farms and the animals found on farms. This was a creative story over all and could easily be used in an elementary/middle classroom, it is worth a read!

Tricarico, C. (2012). Cock-a-doodle dance!. New York, NY: Macmillan Production.

[Beth Kakuma-Depew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not only are the illustration stiff and cliched - they make all the farm animals look caucasian. The pigs have a peach skin tone, the chickes are all white, the cows are all pale. When children's books use animals instead of people, it's an oppurtunity to show characters that are not burdened with racial markers. This book fails to do that.

Also, I thought the story was weak.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grouchy farm animals catch dance fever.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty blatant message, but the rhyme and connections to a variety of dances is interesting.

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of old fashioned phrases to introduce to kids and the end papers have great information about a variety of dances.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Isn't there a Dan Santat book coming out later this year that has a similar premise to this? The art was cute and all, but the story didn't make much sense.

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute rhymes, can't help but add a country twang when reading it :)

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son said, "I don't like this one." So not sure why he didn't like it...maybe to long for him. But I liked the picture and thought it was fun.