The Little Red Hen

Viking Easy-to-Read

by Harriet Ziefert (Retold By), Emily Bolam (Illustrator)

Retells the timeless story of the little red hen who wants help baking her bread, in a format designed for beginning readers with bold illustrations, visual clues to the story, and simple sentence structure.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

Reviews

[Karim Elmenshawy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I will just have to eat this bread by myself"Doesn't she deserve the same?

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very simple version about negative karma. This is one of my favorite tales and I have a Listopia of wonderful versions that are richer, wiser, more loving, funnier... choose one of them instead.

[Emerson and Theodore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic story. Read it this morning and it was very timely. This morning Emerson was being difficult: not helping with any chores, getting dressed, etc. We read the story and then talked about how in order to really enjoy the bread, there were things that needed to be done ahead of time. I'm not sure if he got the message but it was a good try!

[Stephanie Croaning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this version of The Little Red Hen because of the easily-accessible language, repetition, and the engaging, yet simple pictures. I read this with a group of Lifeskill students, and they loved it.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the illustrations in this version.

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confidence building early reader. By Harriet zeifert.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool retelling of this classic, by Harriet Ziefert.

[sweet orange books · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good retelling of this classic story.

Read and reviewed: 2018-12-03