Rooster's Off to See the World (The World of Eric Carle)

Each page has a small block that shows you the animal and the number of animals starting off and ending with rooster. Cool book and as per usual cool illustrations! Eric Carl created this book for children like himself when he was young. On the last page of the book, Mr. Carl says " this book is for the child who has thee difficulties with numbers, specific symbols, but also for all children who are getting acquainted with numbers."

I used this book for a story time with a rooster theme. It is a counting book that teaches the concept of addition and subtraction. Rooster sets off to see the world. Along the way he meets two cats, three frogs, four turtles, and five fish. Since Rooster has made no plans for food or shelter, as night falls his traveling companions go home. The book is illustrated with Carle's usual large, gorgeous collages. It worked very well with a group of forty preschoolers.

I rate this book at a five. It teachers childrenhow to be nice, and care and treat others with respect. Any child I think could read this because what it teaches is a good lesson to young ones.The book to me was actually pretty good.

I recently purchased a six pack of Eric Carle books because my six year old loves his illustrations. Included was the story Rooster's Off To See The World. The colorful artwork is visually stunning and captivates both of my children who insisted I read it NOW! The story tells the tale (with lots of repetitive text) of an ambitious rooster who sets out to see the world. He leaves his cozy home safe behind to embark on his trip. On each page he picks up a few new friends who are also seduced by the temptation to "see the world". Unfortunately, rooster isn't all that bright and he forgets to make plans for basic necessities like food and shelter. So when the sun goes down rooster and his new friends are cold and hungry. They all begin to complain. Soon, rooster's fair weather friends begin to desert him (the turtle's even leave without bothering to say goodbye!). Before long poor defeated rooster is left all alone. A dejected rooster ponders his mistakes, takes a short nap and heads back out to his cozy home without seeing much of the world at all and the book comes to an end.Both of my kids lingered on each beautiful page instead of rushing along to see what happens next in the story as they usually do. My sensitive four year old said she felt very sad when this story came to its end because Rooster's so-called friends left him alone but my six year old enjoyed it. He particularly enjoyed counting all of roosters new friends who appeared in little boxes in the upper corner of each page and said he'd like to read it again so it's a keeper for my son, anyway. ~ Laurie Shallah

Extremely fun to read with your child before bed. The entire collection of books by Eric Carle provide many hours of stimulation. This book provides a colorful way to teach counting skills to very young children.