Rooster

Rooster covers one year in the lives of two twelve year old boys, living in oak-wooded foothills, and the boys’ battles with two persistent antagonists: a fierce old boar hog named Old Lop Ear, and a weird old recluse named Garvey Bockenweiler. The stories are a mixture of real life adventures of the two young boys, and fantastic constructs of one boy’s fertile imagination. Rooster conjures up imagined encounters with a huge rattlesnake, a wise old bullfrog, and a motherly skunk. The youngsters real adventures in the hill country include riding pigs, finding a honey tee, hunting, making cider and the usual mischievous escapedes of twelve year old boys.The recurring conflict with the ferocious hog and the cantankerous old man are resolved in ways that teach the young protagonist and his best friend strong lessons about life. The book ends with a powerful message as the young boys discover that the old man they feared can be turned into a friend. The book is targeted for eight to twelve year olds.