Rooster/Gallo (Libro Tigrillo) [Hardcover]

Jorge Elias Lujan (Author), Manuel Monroy (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 2 and up | Series: Libro Tigrillo

In this mythical poem from talented children's author Jorge Luján, it is the rooster who is the poet of the day. At dawn, his song draws forth the universe and gives way to the dance of beings and objects, all dreamily rendered in color by award-winning illustrator Manuel Monroy. This auspicious collaboration of author and illustrator results in a bilingual picture book at once simple enough to appeal to small children yet complex enough that adult readers can find joy in the verse and images over and over again.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2–A charming tribute to the diurnal round in a nine-line prose poem. When the rooster opens his beak, the sun comes up and day begins. The night overwhelms the day, but this only serves to give that feisty rooster a chance to eat the stars, thus clearing the night sky for the new day. Reading equally well in the original Spanish and in the English translation, the text smoothly depicts the daily progression, with one line of the poem allotted to each spread. Monroy's primitive acrylic paintings are deep hued and utterly engaging. The blue rooster, speckled with white like the night sky, is inquisitive and active, giving life to this simple explanation of day and night.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 1. This small book at first seems like simplicity itself, but there's a sense of wonder here that will entice children who are following along in either English or Spanish. The text is short. In English it reads: "The rooster opens its beak / and up comes the sun. / The sun opens its hand / and the day is born. The day is surprised when night / spreads its cloak and fills it with stars that the rooster can eat / and so clears the sky for a / new day." Each line appears on a page of the trim book, with the English translation under the Spanish words. The richly colored spreads are evocative as a blue rooster watches night slip into day and day slip back into night. Sunshine, stars, and clouds sprinkle the pages, but it is the rooster that draws readers in, bringing the day, savoring the night. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 24 pages
• Publisher: Groundwood Books; Bilingual edition (March 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088899558X
• ISBN-13: 978-0888995582
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,077,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beloved by our toddler, August 18, 2009

By 

s-cubed (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rooster/Gallo (Libro Tigrillo) (Hardcover)

We checked this out from our local library and had to buy it based on the reaction of our 19-month-old daughter who adores this book. Gallo is a very simple, fun, unique, beautifully illustrated poem, which is easy to memorize in both languages even with my high school-level Spanish. This is fabulous for our family as my daughter is truly bilingual thanks to our nanny while I am trying to keep up with her Spanish

The poem is an imaginative story that toddlers can enjoy, while adults can appreciate the unique imagery. Our daughter giggles out loud when the "sun opens it hands" or the "rooster eats the stars"). Even at this age she understands something is silly about that. I think those poetic images help her conceptual ability and creativity.

My daughter and I have a whole hand signal routine (a la "wheels on the bus" or "itsy bitsy spider") to go with the story that she cannot get enough of - in fact, she asks for me to recite the poem in the car, at bedtime, in the grocery store, anywhere. Truly a fun book that can provides hours of entertainment.

5.0 out of 5 stars ELLs, Spanish, Poems, Reenact it, October 18, 2009

By 

Ana Lado "Ana Lado, Ph.D." (Alexandria, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rooster/Gallo (Libro Tigrillo) (Hardcover)

All ages of beginner Spanish students like this book. I teach this very dense but short and easy poetic book to beginner ELLs. They enjoy being a rooster, the sun, the night, the stars as they say their line and walk across the stage. It is a must have for Spanish-English bilingual programs.