Chanticleer and the Fox Book

I find it interesting that so many of the comments on this book were about the vocabulary being too big (azure, sow, debonair) and the story being too long to hold the attention of small children. I think this speaks to the fact that in our rush to get children to read chapter books, we stop reading them picture books by the time they are 6 or 7. That wasn't true when this book was printed (1959). Even after kids learned to read, parent and teachers continued to read picture books to kids. And the wonderful thing about picture books is that because it's expected that they'll be read aloud, the vocabulary IS bigger (and thank goodness, because mama needs something to keep her interest and to stay awake!).

Logan is 9 and enjoyed this re-telling of the Nun Priest's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which a vain rooster gives in to the flattery of a fox and thereby nearly loses his life. The text retains some medieval flavor without sounding too stilted and if you like Barbara Cooney, as I do, prepare to be surprised by her illustrations, which are so different and yet just as wonderful as her usual style. She studied medieval illuminated manuscripts for this project and married their style to her own to produce pictures that evoke the time, but have more movement and emotion. Done in a limited color palette, some resemble woodcuts.