Rooster's Off to See the World

A rooster spontaneously sets off to see the world, gathering recruits for the expedition while on the move, but runs up against the truism of the 7 Ps: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. I rather enjoyed the awkward, crumbling comeuppance he is dealt.

This one provides pretty Carle-style colour spray art by Carle and many opportunities to use funny voices but I can't help but also feel alienated from the rooster's ultimate conclusion that there's no place like home because I am filled with Fernweh (seemingly, perpetually).

In "Rooster's Off to See the World," an ambitious rooster sets off to see the world on a whim. Along the way, many animals decide to join him. However, none of them prepared for the journey. At the end of the night, they are all hungry and missing the comforts of their own. Little by little, the animals all return home. The rooster realizes that it is important to plan and prepare. He also returns home to the comfort of his grain and perch. The amount of animals that join are in number order: 1 rooster, 2 cats, 3 frogs, 4 turtles, and 5 fish. That can reinforce the concepts of counting and sequencing. At the end, I can have students extend the story further by adding 6 of a different species of animals and so on. The story was show more illustrated with beautiful collage art by Eric Carle. The Scholastic Readability Level of the book is PreK-1st grade. show less

This children's book would be wonderful for children who love animals with human characteristics and children who are learning their numbers 1-5. This story can teach multiple things. It can teach children how big goals or dreams can't always be accomplished in one night or by a quick decision. "One fine morning," the rooster decided he wanted to travel the world, but did not accomplish it due to many reasons he did not consider. While he was setting out on his journey, he grabbed other animal friends to come along with him. He grabbed himself (1 rooster), 2 cats, 3 frogs, and so on. Not only are young readers exposed to the numbers to read, but they can also see the quantity that goes along with the number symbol, which can help show more students build their number sense. My only critique is that this would not be entertaining for older ages, as it is very primary children's book. show less

Summary:

This story is about a rooster who wakes up one morning feeling lonely and decides that he wants to go on an adventure around the world. On his way he stumbles across two cats, three frogs, four turtles and five fish. He invites them all along on his journey and they begin traveling. Along the way it becomes dark and all the animals leave one by one because they are either afraid, hungry, or cold. Even the moon disappears and the rooster is one again lonely. The rooster was also homesick, so he went home and had a wonderful dream about a trip around the world.

Comments (opinions/arguments):

This book is really awesome because along with a good story and great illustrations, it also incorporates a little bit of adding and show more subtracting. Starting with the very first page, Eric Carle introduces the rooster as ‘one’ and adds a little picture of one rooster in the corner. On the next page he introduces two cats and then adds two little pictures of two cats in the corner to accompany the one rooster. He does this for the whole story so that children can continue to add on each page. Then when the animals begin to leave, their pictures in the corner begin to disappear as well. This is when children can begin subtracting in the book. I think this is a very awesome and clever way to introduce the simple lesson of mathematics. I love that this concept is very simple, but very age appropriate for young readers. I was a little confused about the message of the story though because Eric Carle is a big advocator for risk taking and teaching children that adventure is a good thing. In this story though he is almost giving children the message that home is where they should stay. He does this by having all of the characters leave the journey and return home. I can see how he might be telling children that home is always the most comfortable place, but it’s fun to try and adventure too, but the message is a little skewed when all the animals just seem to give up. Overall, I still enjoyed the concept of the story and the illustrations. show less

This book is about a rooster who decides he wanted to travel as he walks he runs into some friends which add to the animals traveling.First two cats join him then three frogs then four turtles. In the corner of each page there is a reminder of the amount of friends traveling. Student can count the friends while reading the book. The animals then go home and they begin to subtraction and the pictures in the corner begin to disappear.
This is a great book when teaching addition and subtraction to students.

This tale of Rooster waking up one fine morning and deciding to see the world is wonderful on so many levels. The awesome illustrations only add to the wonderful text. First Rooster meets two cats, then Three Frogs, followed by four turtles, and lastly five fish. In the tradition of repeating prose all of the animals are repeated as they journey along with Rooster until darkness falls and Rooster realizes that he didn't plan on food or lodging. The first to leave are the fish then the turtles followed by the frogs and lastly the two cats. The animals all leave in differing manners as some say goodby and have a nice journey while others leave without even saying goodby.