A Crow of His Own

A scrawny young rooster named Clyde tries to fill the big shoes of his predecessor, Larry, in Lambert's verbally dexterous ode to identity. Larry the rooster brought star power to Sunrise Farm. He knew how, in the farmspun words of motherly goose Roberta, to make "quite a show of it"—"it" being the morning cock-a-doodle-doo. When Clyde pops from his crate to greet his new farm mates, all bumble-footed and insecure in the shadow of the great Larry, the other animals (minus Roberta) find him wanting: in word bubbles of disappointment, "What a worthless chicken." Clyde endeavors to top Larry at…

When Larry, a prize-winning rooster, takes off for new opportunities, Farmer Jay and Farmer Kevin replace him with Clyde. When the farm animals see the scrawny new bird for the first time, they say things like "Uh-oh" and "Not much pep in his step." A group of chickens ignores him because they are too busy declaring their love for Larry in the dirt with their feet. A motherly goose named Roberta steps in to help Clyde when she sees him worrying about living up to Larry's "cock-a-doodle-doo." After several failures, Clyde learns that he doesn't need to impress the others with showmanship and…

Farmers Jay and Kevin replace their old rooster, Larry, with a new one, Clyde, but the barnyard animals clearly find the scrawny little fellow unimpressive. Distressed, Clyde prepares for his crack-of-dawn debut by working all day on his props, costume, and choreography. That first morning, he oversleeps. On the next, he and his unicycle fall off the roof of the coop. After several failures, Clyde listens to Roberta's advice, "Forget about Larry. Just crow your own crow," and greets the dawn with a resounding "COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!" The text of this picture book reads aloud well, while the…