How the Rooster Saved the Day

by Arnold Lobel, Anita Lobel

A fowl outwits a robber in a series of ruses.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Arnold Stark Lobel was a popular American author of children's books. Among his most popular books are those of the Frog and Toad series, and Mouse Soup, which won the Garden State Children's Book Award from the New Jersey Library Association.

Reviews

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing story of a rooster outwitting a robber. There are some parts that might be too intense for sensitive children, including the robber's statement to the rooster on the third page, "I will kill you.", as well as the drawings of the robber are understandably less than lovely. The bordered illustrations have a medieval feel to them, although perhaps a bit confusing for young children.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rooster as Trickster claims deafness and says he's gone deaf because he's mooed too loud or barked too loud, and so forth.

Each one of these stories is illustrated first with the burglar and the Rooster. Then it follows up with the Rooster among the type of animals he's claiming to be, doing the thing he claims to have done, while still being a realistically rendered chicken.

https://pussreboots.com/blog/2024/com...

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun trickster tale. The borders around the the pen and watercolor illustrations have a medieval vibe.

In the story, the rooster's crow causes the sun to rise. I think we have some confusion about correlation and causation here. It might be useful to discuss with the children cause and effect to be sure they are understanding the cause of the sun rising in the imaginary world of the story is the rooster's crow. Then again, they might not get hung up on that as an adult would. I think my kids will enjoy this story. They actually really like stories with some violent elements like many folktales/fairytales (think Grimm brothers) some of the folktales from rural Guatemala are really quite horrific/scary. The kids will also think this is very funny. -Would be great to pair with other trickster tales - for example, Monkey a Trickster Tale from India or even the Gingerbread Man. Great for interaction with the listeners can participate by sharing what sounds cows, pigs, ducks etc. make. I will definitely read this to the kids soon. Also good for simile instruction "deaf as a stone" "my ears are as sharp as the point of my beak" ("Your teeth may be sharp but your mind is dull" - other trickster tale.)

-why does the sun rise in this story?
-what does the robber want to do?
-why does the robber want to kill the rooster?
-at the end of the story, why does the sun rise?
-what does the rooster want?
-does the rooster say he can hear or he can't hear?
-why can't he hear?
-do you think the rooster really cannot hear the robber or is it a trick?

New vocab:

-robbing
-deaf
-faded
-nonsense

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a funny little book this is to read. The Rooster prevents the robber from killing him. The robber wants it always to be dark so he can plunder all the time, and decides taking the rooster is the way to prevent the sun coming up.