Rarest Kind of Best

CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1959

Chanticleer and the Fox

by Barbara Cooney (adapted and illustrated by)

New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1958

32 pp.

Age: 3+

Interests: folktales, farm animals, roosters

Also by this illustrator: Miss Rumphius

A story adapted from the Canterbury Tales (“The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”) about a peasant woman’s vain rooster Chanticleer. A prowling fox flatters his singing and when proud Chanticleer closes his eyes to crow for him, the fox snatches him up in his jaws and carries him off. The peasant woman, her daughters, her cows, pigs, and sheep all run shouting in pursuit. Chanticleer tells the fox he should call to them to turn back, but of course when the fox opens his mouth Chanticleer is able to escape up into a tree.

A fable about falling prey to flattery – with a happy ending.

The illustrations depict medieval farm life, the widow is hard-working but very poor. The language is a little antiquated, but the story is simple and easy to follow.

(This title on amazon.)