Rooster / Gallo

By Jorge Luján, Manuel Monroy and Elisa Amado

A rooster heralds the beginning and end of the day in this imaginative and beautifully illustrated bilingual poem.

The song of the rooster draws forth the universe and gives way to the dance of beings and objects as day draws its first brilliant breath. This book is so supremely simple that a baby can delight in it, and yet so complex that an adult reader can find joy in the poem and beautiful images over and over again.

Jorge Lujan dreamed this myth and, when he wrote it, understood that the rooster is the poet of the day. Manuel Monroy dipped his pen in the ink of the night and, when he withdrew it, found it was spangled with stars.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.2
With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4
Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Release date: Oct 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781773066486

Jorge Luján

JORGE LUJÁN is an author, poet and musician. His body of work, translated into eighteen languages, includes Stephen and the Beetle, illustrated by Chiara Carrer; Doggy Slippers and Numeralia, illustrated by Isol; Colors! ¡Colores!, illustrated by Piet Grobler; and Moví la mano / I Moved My Hand, illustrated by Mandana Sadat. He has won the Premio de Poesía para Niños de ALIJA, and has been nominated for the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award and nominated eight times for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Mexico.

Book preview

Reviews for Rooster / Gallo

[crochetbunnii · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Personal Response:The simplicity of the text and beauty in the depictions of the rooster calling in the day and filling the night with stars are wonderful. I love how the rooster and the sky interact with one another. Sometimes I found myself getting distracted between trying to understand the text and looking at the illustration. I found that on the 3rd go-around if I read the the text and took the time to digest it before truly examining the picture, I found much more beauty in the depiction of the tale. Curricular Connections: This would be great at a bilingual story time, a story time about roosters, a story time about night and day. After reading this story, children can create their own pictures of night and day.