In this whimsical tale set in South Louisiana, readers meet a blue-headed rooster who, due to a case of the chicken measles, loses the will to trumpet the morning wake-up call. When the rooster’s owner, Mrs. Vidrine, decides it’s time to make some “quiet rooster stew,” his friend, a brown hen called Cleoma, takes action. She and the other chickens invent ways to keep Mrs. Vidrine busy while Cleoma sets out to find musician Joe Beebee, whose marvelous music just might inspire the rooster to sound his morning call once again. In a text that is at the same time eloquent and hilarious, Martin creates a rousing barnyard tale into which she skillfully interweaves the story of fictional musician Joe Beebee, recounting his childhood love of music and his attempts to fashion his own instrument from a cigar box and an old screen door. Illustrator Sweet often includes several frames on one spread to depict everything that’s happening simultaneously. Her lively illustrations, employing collage and found objects, are the perfect complement to this lyrical Louisiana tale of good music and good friends. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)
