Wrong Time Rooster

A new arrival at the farm means that Farmer Tony and the farm animals have to pull together, especially since Ronnie, the new rooster, can’t tell the time. It turns out that no-one has ever taught Ronnie to tell the time, and the farmer is forever being disturbed by Ronnie’s cock-a-doodle-doing, and the chorus of farm animals repeating, ‘Wrong time rooster.’ Slapstick moments are all very well, but Ronnie is worried that his past bad experiences of crowing at the wrong time are repeating, and that he will be packed off again to another farm. Farmer Tony’s compassionate approach saves Ronnie from being sent away – and (of course) he learns to tell the time with the help of his new friends. Some quick examples of clock time show him being helped – and would also provide a young reader with some examples to help them.

This is a brightly coloured almost cartoon version of a farm, but the author-illustrator draws us beyond the immediate into thinking about poor Ronnie’s predicament: we see him ‘too worried to crow,’ gazing into the night sky, and our hearts go out to him. It’s a shame that the alliteration – and perhaps a desire for a wider readership – gives us a rooster instead of a cockerel, but this is a minor quibble. Key Stage 1 in the current National Curriculum in England requires that pupils should ‘tell the time to the hour and half past the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times,’ and this book would fit well into younger children being introduced to clock time. There is a bigger debate about whether this remains an important part of maths in Primary schooling, but nevertheless this goggle-eyed cockerel and his amusing farmyard companions would be a fun addition to the book corner and a reminder that kindness is important whatever the time!