Book: Cock-a-Doodle-Hoooooo!
Author: Mick Manning
Illustrator: Brita Granströ
Published: 2007
One rain-soaked, shivery night, an owl wanders into a henhouse. He was just looking for somewhere warm and cosy to sleep, but the hens are shocked when they wake up. He can’t stay unless he can act like a rooster, they tell him. But the owl really wants to stay! With the help of the speckled hen, he learns to strut and peck, and even attempts to hoot . . . but it’s only by being himself that he gains a place in the henhouse.
This is hardly a new story, but the way Manning goes about it is charming. The suspicious hens reminded me of a clutch of fussy little old ladies, and their speech-ballooned comments on the poor owl’s shortcomings helped that along.
Granström’s soft pencil-and-watercolor illustrations bring the owl’s story to life. My favorite was the cover-one brown-and-black owl, surrounded by red and white hens. I fell in love with this book because of its simple story of someone who doesn’t fit in, no matter how hard he tries.
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