Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!

Full-color, textured paintings illustrate an offbeat rendering of the traditional English nonsense rhyme.

PreSchool-Grade 1-This book takes a lighthearted, familiar nursery rhyme and turns it into a visual nightmare, full of vaguely surreal images of roosters, horses, shoes, and fiddlers dancing in a manic fashion across the pages. The illustrative technique-watercolors and bleach on Himalayan handmade paper-gives an interesting and original feeling of texture to the pictures, but also imbues them with a rather dark, foreboding aura. The images depicted all seem somewhat frightening and menacing, leading one to question the appropriateness of the book for the intended audience. Although artistically valid from an adult point of view, this title can definitely be skipped as an offering for young patrons.
Judy Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Harding gives a boisterous call to rise and shine with her first picture book. Taking the classic nursery rhyme that begins "Cock-a-doodle-doo / My dame has lost her shoe," Harding finds ample room for an offbeat interpretation. Crowing roosters cavort with the lost shoe and the master's lost fiddling stick, too, until the items are reunited with their rightful owners in a rousing finale. But the real highlights here are the highly textured, earth-toned paintings, created with watercolors and bleach on handmade paper. While the almost somber color scheme and slightly stylized figures may not hold the attention of youngest readers, this volume signals a promising debut. Ages 2-6.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3-5. What this lacks in substance it makes up in style. Using the old (and rather obscure for American children) nursery rhyme, "Cock-a-doodle-doo! My dame has lost her shoe," Harding has created an artistic delight in textured paintings that are a mixture of watercolors and bleach on primed Himalayan handmade paper. Done predominantly in shades of red, brown, green and blue, these energetic paintings have the look of modern art against a batik background. If this description sounds like it will appeal more to adults than to children, that really isn't the case. Flapping roosters, dancing fiddlers, shoeless dames, and plenty of rousing cock-a-doodle-doos will provide enough enjoyment for most preschoolers--and may also give them a taste for good art. Ilene Cooper