Night Owl & the Rooster - Pbk

This is our second in the series...I'm not sure what order they were printed in or meant to be read in, but we're picking them up as they are available at our local library. This volume of Legends of the World find us in Haiti, spending time with Coucou the night owl who, believing himself to be ugly, hides from the rest of the animals and only come out when the moon is dark. One night, he meets Drina the swallow who lost her way when it got dark and, since it is the dark moon, he escorts her home. What ensues is a bit of a romance, though only when the moon is dark, he takes care never to let Drina see his ugly face. When she announces her family is throwing a party for him because he's spending so much time with Drina, he knows he's in trouble and turns to his friend, Rouge the rooster (who is, apparently quite the ladies man and none too happy that Coucou might steal away a lady bird that he's not yet had a crack at). Well, when the night of the party rolls around, Rogue turns out to only be interested in insuring that Drina is his, and tries to trick Coucou into abandoning Drina, so he can step in and "console" her. You know, this true moral of this story might be lost on young children, but it's an interesting and colorful tale non-the-less. The language is simple and straightforward, even if the point is a bit ambiguous...and the illustrations are a riot of color. We enjoyed this tale...but I think we will probably have to revisit it when the kids are a bit older, so they can pick up additional things from the story. Overall, I think this series is a great basic introduction to a wide array of stories from many cultures the world over...a jumping off point also for kids to research more into the culture and mythology of any given place. I'd recommend this for introducing young children to mythology and folklore. The age range cited is 9-12 which is probably the range of kids who would most appreciate and benefit from the story and additional information provided...but even younger kids (say 5-8) will love the stories and vivid, colorful illustrations...the stores aren't so complex or long that they will lose interest in them. I would definitely buy this for my permanent collection and hope to read more from this series soon! I give it a B-, simply because young children might miss the point of the story altogether.