Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

In this entertaining adaptation of "Drakestail," Little Rooster finds a diamond button and decides to bring it home to his mistress. En route, he is accosted by the king, who wants the button for himself. Fortunately, the rooster has a magic stomach, so when the king has him thrown in the well, he drinks all the water; when the king has him set on fire, he spits up the well water and extinguishes it; when the king has him thrown into a beehive, he swallows the bees; and when the king attempts to sit on him, he lets those bees fly out into the king's baggy trousers. When Little Rooster is finally given open access to the king's treasure chamber, he retrieves the riches the king has been stealing from his village through the years, then brings it home and brings it up for the villagers. A magic stomach proves a pretty resourceful tool for Little Rooster, and young listeners will delight in his boundless determination and likable nature. In typical MacDonald style, the story is perfectly paced and effectively patterned for a foolproof readaloud. Terry's jovial [End Page 375] acrylic paintings are loud and unsubtle but stylish, featuring portly figures (a squat king, a plump rooster). Bulging eyes and bulbous noses fill most of the human faces, and the facial expressions of the king are particularly successful in capturing his steady escalation, as the text lays out, from "mad" to "angry" to "furious" to "infuriated." The ending is deliciously just, and young listeners will readily applaud the successes of this super rooster. A note identifies the source of the tale.