Help Wanted

March 18, 2024
The Office meets Chicken Run in this workplace comedy, in which an “extremely cool and helpful sheep” reveals how a barnyard solves its productivity problem. When the farm’s rooster becomes distracted by a hobby and ignores his crowing responsibilities, the whole farm begins to oversleep. The farm’s cow (“She has a clipboard. This is a professional cow”) conducts interviews, dismissing each nontraditional candidate for replacement rooster. The first, dressed “in an inexplicable tuxedo,” wants to ring a bell instead of crowing; the second offers to wake everyone with “fresh, hot coffee”; the third, a small brown bird, wants to press a nonexistent button to do the job; and the fourth, a green, transparent blob, answers questions in its own blobby language (“Glarka-glarka-bloo”). It takes the warm cooperation of all four to get things moving, even if their distinctive gifts don’t shift the farm’s status quo. Alongside snappy narration from Falatko (Rick the Rock of Room 214), crisp-edged, graphical artwork by Stegmaier (AAALLIGATOR!) packs visual information into busy spreads in which a gardener rabbit dozes while the hose runs, and an audio speaker signals the rooster’s new interest. Ages 3–5.

May 1, 2024
Barnyard animals attempt to hire a new rooster. A cow seeks a "focused and undistracted rooster who will get this farm back on track." But the applicants have their own ideas. A white-feathered, caffeine-loving chicken offers to wake the farm animals up with freshly brewed coffee. "It will never work for us," responds Cow. The other candidates include an inexplicably tuxedo-clad rooster who wants to ring a bell instead of crowing, a small brown bird whose lack of farm experience quickly becomes evident, and a translucent green blob who speaks a language Cow can't understand. At last, the farm's original rooster wakes up and crows; "the roostering part of being a rooster" isn't very demanding, so he's been devoting his time to playing music, which keeps him up late. The "solution" to ensuring that a rooster crows every morning will have grown-ups chuckling about the inefficiencies of the workplace. Illustrations dominated by rich reds and browns and cool blues bring the setting to life. Stegmaier gives this farmyard a clever modern flair; the cow is dressed in overalls and boots, her hair in a topknot, while the "extremely cool and helpful sheep" who narrates is clad in a sweater and a pleated skirt. While the jokes about the trials and tribulations of the job market may be lost on younger readers, kids will nevertheless giggle at the expressive animals and whimsical artwork. A cheeky tale worth crowing about. (Picture book. 4-7)

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June 1, 2024
Grades K-3 What's a farm to do when its rooster has let his hobbies get in the way of rousing the farm? Look for a new candidate, of course. Unfortunately for the very professional cow and sheep at the heart of this story, their rooster candidates are rarely interested in waking up the other animals with the traditional cock-a-doodle-doo (and are actually rarely roosters at all). Frustration over finding the right candidate almost boils over, until the animals are taught that unconventional methods of completing a task, combined with teamwork, can provide exactly what they're looking for, even if it does come about in an unexpected way. The illustrations of the farm and its inhabitants are colorful and charming (particularly the semiopaque, completely adorable blob), and adults who think they've heard every possible iteration of a farm tale will be pleasantly surprised with this unique look at what it takes to keep a ranch running.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.