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Who Said Coo?

by Deborah Ruddell
Who Said Coo? by Deborah Ruddell; illus. by Robin Luebs Preschool Beach Lane/Simon 40 pp. 6/10 978-1-4169-8510-5 $16.99
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Pigeon and Owl are just having fun, but Lulu the pig isn't laughing at their middle-of-the-night antics. First a loud cooooo wakes her up; a few hours later she's disturbed by a whooooo. Each time, she asks her friends, "Was it YOU?" but neither fesses up. The last straw, however, is a 3 a.m. mooooo. Lulu doesn't mince words: she storms outside and firmly tells the two high-spirited troublemakers to shoo. Luebs's gentle acrylic paintings show the now contrite birds flying away; the next sounds Lulu hears are sad boo-hoos. Some cocoa and a sleepover help to quiet everyone down. Ruddell's repetitive, mostly rhyming text lulls listeners until the next outburst; the softly colored illustrations exude calm and make clear that although emotions are running high, no one is really out of control. In fact, when Lulu (along with Pigeon and Owl) is jolted awake one last time by Rooster's early morning cock-a-doodle-doo!, she's learned her lesson about flying off the handle. She quietly asks if he could "come back later? Say...around two?" With any luck, by the end of the story listeners will fall asleep as easily as Lulu. KITTY FLYNN
PreS-Gr 1—Each time Lulu the pig settles sleepily into her bed, she is awakened by Pigeon and Owl, two mischievous friends who coo, hoot, and moo at her door. When she finally angrily shoos the pranksters away, their loud laments bring her out to apologize and invite them back to sleep with her. When the rooster rouses them, Lulu politely asks him to return in a few hours to crow them awake and they settle down to sleep (including a tiny surprise guest). Using a framing phrase to bridge the action ("Everything was cozy and quiet, just the way she liked it, until somebody somewhere said…"), this rhythmic romp incorporates fresh rhymes and repetition to detail Lulu's travails. The full-color acrylic illustrations are set against blue and white backgrounds and feature chunky rounded characters in warm colors. Although there is a confusing moment when the avian friends break character and start mooing, the gentle message that one can achieve desired results through means other than anger will find an appreciative audience.—Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library, WI
First a loud cooooo wakes pig Lulu up, then she's disturbed by a whooooo; the last straw is a 3 a.m. mooooo. Lulu storms outside and tells trouble-making Owl and Pigeon to shoo. Ruddell's repetitive, mostly rhyming text lulls listeners until the next outburst; softly colored illustrations exude calm and show that although emotions are high, no one's really out of control.
Reviewed by Marge Loch-Wouters , Jul 01, 2010

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