Red the Rooster and Rocko the Mean Butterfly in Stories from the Barnyard

About the Book

Rocko is a butterfly with a mean streak and Red, a proud free-range rooster. They’re pals in the barnyard and enjoy exploring and telling stories. Most of their stories are silly but usually contain wisdom and meaning for the other animals and for humans, too—or, as they’re called, the “feeding hands.”

This collection of fifty-six animal stories is shared by an all-knowing narrator who wanders the barnyard and surrounding countryside reporting on the animals’ activities, personalities, conflicts, and encounters with predators. True, it can be a lot of fun on the farm, but there are dangers, too.

For instance, Josephine the rabbit tells her babies about the ogre that lives in the woods. There are butterflies, bugs, grubs, ducks, geese, and chickens, all sharing the farm with Rocko and Red. Young readers will enjoy the antics of the barnyard animals and their wild neighbors while learning a few things at the same time.

About the Author

John E. Dempsey was a chainsaw sculptor for thirty years when he decided to try his hand at writing a book that would appeal to his daughters. When they were kids, he told stories about Red and Rocko. After Dempsey became an empty nester, he wrote a story a week for a year for his grown up little girls.