Review of Rooster

[Destiny-Ann Duncan]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Rooster" by Edward Pontacoloni.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Rooster by Edward Pontacoloni was overall a decent book. It contained an inspiring storyline of an underdog that overcame to odds with a little love and support from his family and friends. The story had a comforting touch of folk-y language and was told from the perspective of a narrator telling a story to what seemed like kids around a campfire.

I liked the heart-warming nature of the story and the incorporation of the pooka. The element of the ‘supernatural’ gave the story a feeling of lore without being too removed from the readers like the effect a myth may have. Underdog stories are always winners, they make the reader feel good, like they can accomplish anything.

I wasn’t a fan of the short chapters or constant switching of character perspectives. It became hard to keep up with what character perspective I was reading from. If the transitions had been blended together better, I would have had an easier time keeping up. I also feel like the author should have kept with one set of perspectives or another, either the perspective of the dogs or of the humans. I think it would have been better to be completely from the perspective of the dogs, since the story was about a dog who was continually underestimated. I also felt as if some of the characters didn’t add anything to the story other than to convolute it. The pooka could have also been a bigger part in the story, especially since it had been mentioned frequently in the beginning of the story. The last improvement I think could be made is to tone down the colloquial dialect, as someone who has grown up around similar dialect, I didn’t struggle much to keep up, however it would be hard to understand if the reader was not familiar with that way of speaking.

I would rate this book a two out of four stars. The story was good, it has a lot of potential, but needs some work to clean up the dialogue, characters, and verbiage. This book contains a lot of potential, it reminds me of the Rabbit and the Hare fable many people grow up on as children mixed with a touch of Brave with the inclusion of the pooka.

I would recommend this book for pre-teens once the above improvements have been made. I think this would be a good book for pre-teens to read as they begin to enter a new stage in life where they might find themselves as an underdog and need encouragement. This book could also be good for older elementary school children who are getting ready to make the transition into middle school.

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Rooster
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