In the children's picture book ''Chanticleer and the Fox'', Barbara Cooney adapted and illustrated the story of

Chanticleer and the Fox Chanticleer and the Fox is a fable that dates from the Middle Ages. Though it can be compared to Aesop's fable of The Fox and the Crow, it is of more recent origin. The story became well known in Europe because of its connection with several po ...

as told in

The Nun's Priest's Tale "The Nun's Priest's Tale" (Middle English: ''The Nonnes Preestes Tale of the Cok and Hen, Chauntecleer and Pertelote'') is one of '' The Canterbury Tales'' by the Middle English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Composed in the 1390s, it is a beast fabl ...

in Chaucer's ''

Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''magnum opus ...

'', translated by Robert Mayer Lumiansky. Published by Crowell in 1958, it was the recipient of the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Servic ...

for illustration in 1959.American Library Association
Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present
URL accessed 27 May 2009. It was also one of the Horn Book "best books of the year". The book had its beginnings in Cooney's delight in the colorful plumage of some exotic chickens she happened to see in the late afternoon October sunlight. However, it wasn't until she read the Nun's Priest's Tale that she realised where and how she could express this artistic impulse. There followed a period of research on medieval times. As with much of her illustration for the previous twenty years, Cooney used a

scratchboard Scratchboard (North America and Australia) or scraperboard (Great Britain), is a form of direct engraving where the artist scratches off dark ink to reveal a white or colored layer beneath. Scratchboard refers to both a fine-art medium, and ...

technique. As each additional color cost money, Cooney was granted five colors, at least for half the pages, by Crowell. Some pages would be in two colors, red and black, while some double spreads would be split, ideally so that the discrepancy would not be noticed or, better, that the picture would benefit. It is clear from her acceptance speech for the Caldecott Medal that Cooney knew her choice of story would place demands on its young readers: "I believe that children in this country need a more robust literary diet than they are getting. …It does not hurt them to read about good and evil, love and hate, life and death. Nor do I think they should read only about things that they understand. '…a man's reach should exceed his grasp.' So should a child's. For myself, I will never talk down to, or draw down to, children." Winning the Caldecott medal was a turning-point for Cooney. Her editor offered work on a full colour book with a French setting which she went to France to research. She also changed her artistic style after this success, moving from scratchboard as medium to painting. In a retrospective essay about the Caldecott Medal-winning books from 1956 to 1965, Norma R. Fryatt wrote, "The dramatic possibilities in the tale are exploited gently but firmly, even turning the limitations of color printing into advantages... ''Chanticleer and the Fox'' is retold with clarity, freshness and dedication to the task."

References

{{Authority control American picture books Picture books by Barbara Cooney 1958 children's books Works based on The Canterbury Tales Caldecott Medal–winning works Reynard cycle Thomas Y. Crowell Co. books Fictional chickens Books about foxes Literature featuring anthropomorphic foxes