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Nursery Classics #1
The Little Red Hen
One of our finest novelists for young people (Kirkus Reviews) turns his hand to the classic fairy tale, The Little Red Hen. The graceful muted illustrations of Norman Messenger accompany this magic tale--a charming book that will delight young children with every telling. Full color.
- GenresPicture BooksChildrens
32 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1997
10 people want to read
About the author
Alan Garner
80 books751 followersAlan Garner OBE (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist who is best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. His work is firmly rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native county of Cheshire, North West England, being set in the region and making use of the native Cheshire dialect.
Born into a working-class family in Congleton, Cheshire, Garner grew up around the nearby town of Alderley Edge, and spent much of his youth in the wooded area known locally as 'The Edge', where he gained an early interest in the folklore of the region. Studying at Manchester Grammar School and then Oxford University, in 1957 he moved to the nearby village of Blackden, where he bought and renovated an Early Modern building known as Toad Hall. His first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, was published in 1960. A children's fantasy novel set on the Edge, it incorporated elements of local folklore in its plot and characters. Garner completed a sequel, The Moon of Gomrath (1963), but left the third book of the trilogy he had envisioned. Instead he produced a string of further fantasy novels, Elidor (1965), The Owl Service (1967) and Red Shift (1973).
Turning away from fantasy as a genre, Garner produced The Stone Book Quartet (1979), a series of four short novellas detailing a day in the life of four generations of his family. He also published a series of British folk tales which he had rewritten in a series of books entitled Alan Garner's Fairy Tales of Gold (1979), Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales (1984) and A Bag of Moonshine (1986). In his subsequent novels, Strandloper (1996) and Thursbitch (2003), he continued writing tales revolving around Cheshire, although without the fantasy elements which had characterised his earlier work. In 2012, he finally published a third book in the Weirdstone trilogy.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Garner
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Born into a working-class family in Congleton, Cheshire, Garner grew up around the nearby town of Alderley Edge, and spent much of his youth in the wooded area known locally as 'The Edge', where he gained an early interest in the folklore of the region. Studying at Manchester Grammar School and then Oxford University, in 1957 he moved to the nearby village of Blackden, where he bought and renovated an Early Modern building known as Toad Hall. His first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, was published in 1960. A children's fantasy novel set on the Edge, it incorporated elements of local folklore in its plot and characters. Garner completed a sequel, The Moon of Gomrath (1963), but left the third book of the trilogy he had envisioned. Instead he produced a string of further fantasy novels, Elidor (1965), The Owl Service (1967) and Red Shift (1973).
Turning away from fantasy as a genre, Garner produced The Stone Book Quartet (1979), a series of four short novellas detailing a day in the life of four generations of his family. He also published a series of British folk tales which he had rewritten in a series of books entitled Alan Garner's Fairy Tales of Gold (1979), Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales (1984) and A Bag of Moonshine (1986). In his subsequent novels, Strandloper (1996) and Thursbitch (2003), he continued writing tales revolving around Cheshire, although without the fantasy elements which had characterised his earlier work. In 2012, he finally published a third book in the Weirdstone trilogy.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Garner
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 27, 2023
3/10
Hardcover
This just annoyed me. Why would you rewrite a classic in a way that makes it completely uninteresting?
Hardcover
This just annoyed me. Why would you rewrite a classic in a way that makes it completely uninteresting?
March 22, 2023
It was okay.
April 30, 2013
I loved this story. It is brilliant for reading with KS1 and EYFS. With KS1 you could use this to discuss what children feel about the different characters or to predict what will happen next. It could be used to create a role play about different endings for the story. The little Red Hen is generous and helpful whereas his friends the cat and rat are lazy. The Hen's kindness sees her taken advantage of by other animals, and when the fox comes along it is her kindness which nearly lands her up as dinner for the cunning fox. But actually the fox is not as clever as he thinks and the kind hen is able to outsmart the fox and return home. Hen then finishes the story in her usual no nonsense way and we guess carries on life as normal. This is a great book because it uses simple language and also key themes are repeated in the structure of the story. Really enjoyable.
April 30, 2017
Pictures are nice enough, but the strength of the first part of the story (the only part included in most tellings) is diluted by the hen not having to work hard. None of the characters have personality except for the fox, and I almost feel sorry for him and his sack of rocks.
July 29, 2008
Didn't like this version of the classic fable at all.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews