THE ROOSTER WHO LOST HIS CROW

By morning's early light, Rooster readies himself to announce the dawn. It's an important position, alerting the farmer to get up and get on with his chores. But one day a bee scares the cock-a- doodle-doo right out of Rooster, and the whole farm routine is suddenly akimbo. All the animals help Rooster look for his crow in the usual places, but not until a fox threatens chicks in the coop does Rooster let it rip. Lewison (The Princess and the Potty) creates a hilariously appealing character in Rooster, complete with a fine stripe of heroism. Wickstrom's watercolor illustrations nab all the action—the loss of crow, the farmer's wife's snores, the return to normality—with comic immediacy. (Picture book. 4-8)