No one can stop the Crown Prince of Russia from acting like a rooster. The Tsar’s messenger spies a child named Avron carrying home a chicken for Shabbat dinner, and whisks him off to the palace as an expert on poultry. The Tsar demands that Avron cure his son or face dire consequences. Avron wins the Prince’s trust by pretending to be a rooster, then gradually convinces him that only very smart, special roosters like themselves can stand erect, wear clothes, and eat human food.

Sydell Waxman’s charming retelling of this old parable has many satisfying elements for the young reader: the problem (a prince who pecks and crows like a rooster) is delightfully absurd, the tension (the threat of beheading) is deliciously dangerous, and the hero is an ordinary child who outsmarts the adults. Waxman skilfully integrates explanations of terms such as “shochet” and “Shabbat” into the narrative.

The unique illustrations by award-winning Giora Carmi (Israeli-born and now living in New York) amplify the sense of the absurd in a pleasing mix of perspectives. The Tsar, for example, is portrayed in close-ups as massive and overpowering. When he’s seen at a distance beside his family, however, we realize he is just a plump, blustery little man. Carmi’s visual depiction of crowing – jagged shards of colour bursting from the Prince’s mouth – is wonderfully original. Unfortunately, the cover illustration shows “cockadoodledoo” spelled out in hand lettering, and the result is too many colours and typefaces – just the opposite of the book’s internal design, which makes good use of white space to balance the illustrations and text.