THE ROOSTER WHO WOULD NOT BE QUIET! by Carmen Agra Deedy. Illus. by Eugene Yelchin.  New York:  Scholastic Press, 2017.  48p.  ISBN 978--54572288-9 hc. $17.99      Gr. K-3     E PIC

Written like a folktale, the story begins in a small village that was so noisy it was overwhelming.  No one could concentrate on their work during the day or sleep at night.  The residents fired the mayor and hired a new one who outlawed singing or noise of any kind.  Most people complied, but one day a little rooster began to crow.  The mayor tried various punishments for the rooster, but the rooster kept crowing.  When the mayor threatened to make the rooster into soup, the village decided to stand up to the oppresive mayor and sing songs of their own - the ones they had silenced years ago.  The little rooster's voice inspired the residents to let everyone's voices be heard.  The lines between good and evil are further illustrated through Yelchin's mixed media drawings of the righteous rooster's awesome plumage and the menacing body language and greenish complexion of the mayor.
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI