The Little Red Hen: An Old Fable

by Heather Forest, Susan Gaber (Illustrator)

Working together makes working fun.
A little Red Hen lived in a house, with a frisky dog, a cat, and a mouse. So begins this fresh look at a beloved old fable. The little Red Hen's frisky housemates―Dog, Cat, and Mouse―would rather play than settle down to daily chores such as planting, cutting, and grinding wheat. But when the wheat is used to make a delicious cake, the little creatures are more than happy to help eat it! The Little Red Hen tells them that they can only eat the cake if they promise to help her work.  Heather Forest's rhythmic retelling captures the chaos of daily living and celebrates the spirit of teamwork inherent in the tale. Susan Gaber's whimsical illustrations transport the reader to a cozy cottage where the little Red Hen helps others learn how to help her even if it is more effort than doing the work herself. This animal story about teamwork will teach readers the importance of fairness, sharing and helping each other.  August House Publishers offer 

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Fiction, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Fables

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 8, 2006

Reviews

[LaDonna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not in the mood to be generous. No rounding up for this one. I know this is an old fable, with a life lessons, but I didn’t feel it. And, yes, I know the book wasn’t written for me, but for young readers.

I just don’t agree with the message. (And, neither did the kids I read it to). You ask for help...your “friends” tell you no...at the end you allow them to share in the spoils. What happened to helping your fellow man? What happened to supporting your friend? One of the kids I read it to asked, “Why didn’t the dog, cat and mouse try to fill hen’s bucket?” And, before you ask, yes, I did explain that the hen took the high road. Nonetheless, they didn’t feel it either.

You may like the tale. I didn’t.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading My Library Quest: Renton Highlands J398.2

This retelling was actually a bit hard to read aloud. I never did figure out the pattern of when it would rhyme, what the meter was doing, and when it was just prose. The illustrations were also a bit disjointed; the rather practical chicken apparently lives in a house with a softly stylized puppy, a blurred kitten, and a bibliophile mouse. This also blunted the message -- the puppy and kitten definitely seem juvenile, while the hen is an adult. (I have no opinion on the mouse.) So of course the children don't work as hard as the adult, who ends up looking like a real pill.

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: The Little Red Hen: An Old Fable
Retold by: Heather Forest
Illustrator: Susan Gaber
Genre: Fable
Theme(s): Being helpful, friendship, hard work
Opening line/sentence: “A little red hen lived in a house.”
Brief book summary: The little red hen asks her friends, a dog, a cat, and a mouse, to help her with the tasks of making wheat so they can make it into a cake. Every time she asks, though, her friends respond with, “not I”. They all admire the little red hen’s cake when it is finished, and the hen responds with, “I will share my cake with those of you who help when there is work to do”. In the end, they all help and all get to eat the cake.
Professional Recommendation/review #1:

CLCD
Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

(http://www.clcd.com.ezaccess.librarie...)

The classic tale of the hardworking hen and her not-so-helpful friends has been retold many times, most recently by Jerry Pinkney. For her rhymed version, Forest has a dog, a cat, and a mouse who live in the hen s house as the characters who refuse to help her. For each chore she asks for help in a repeated rhyme and is answered with the same, Not I. The end of the story here, however, is not the usual one, for the hen agrees to share her delicious looking cake with those who agree to help in the future, because working together makes working fun. And so they do all help in the work, and eat, making this a fable with a stronger message than the usual one. Gaber s hen is a proud fowl with a brilliant red comb, quite capable of getting the assorted tasks done. Her friends are young, visually appealing, much more interested in play than work, although the mouse is an avid reader. The naturalistic illustrations add visual interest, appearing in a variety of formats from small vignettes to full and double-page scenes appropriate to the text.

Professional Recommendation/review #2:
Horn Book Review

(http://www.hornbookguide.com.ezaccess...)

"A little Red Hen lived in a house, / with a frisky dog, a cat, and a mouse." This retelling of the classic story about the hard-working hen who teaches her lazy friends a lesson has an unusual, lilting rhythm. The work benefits from Gaber's colorful, folksy, gently humorous pastel illustrations, modernized with subtle cut-paper effects.


Response to two professional reviews: I like how the second review mentioned the illustrator’s use of cut-paper effects. These added humor to the story, as well. The first review pointed out that the ending was different than the usual fable in this retelling. It added an overall strong moral message. It also noted that the mouse was an avid reader, which I loved! He was reading on almost every page.

Evaluation of literary elements: The rhythmic repetition makes this an enjoyable, simple fable for young children to enjoy. The illustrations reciprocate the dialogue, meaning what is written reflects what is shown in each picture. The new ending adds a powerful message about hard work and teamwork.

Consideration of instructional application: This is a great book to teach repetition and rhyme to children. There may also be a various versions that could be used as mentor texts to teach a mini lesson on fables and the retelling of fables. You could even have children dramatize this, enabling them to explore characters, setting, and props. They could create the props they need for the play in a maker space with recycled materials!

[Matthew]

Categories/Genres for this class fulfilled by this book: Traditional Lit

Estimate of age level of interest: Ages 5-6

Estimate of reading level: Lexile AD500L

Brief description: A retelling of a classic story. The little red hen does all the work and no one wants to help her. Her housemates, a dog, a cat and a mouse, are more than happy to reap the benefits of her work when she bakes a cake. I thought this book was fun and cute. It really helps celebrate teamwork.

Brief discussion of why it fits into the particular genre identified: It’s a picture book but it a retelling of a classic folk take.

Source and date of published reviews from professional sources
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this book a fable? It is a short story, with animals that talk, and it teaches a lesson. Yep it is . Quick to read. Then point out the criteria that makes it a fable. Then kids go back to their seats - 3rd grade - and make a snowball out of their answer to this question: What makes this story a fable? Answer: It is a short story, the animals talk and the lesson is you need to help the people who cook for you, because work is more fun if people help each other get it done. Also the work gets done quicker when you help each other.

[Tirzah · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there are many good versions of The Little Red Hen out there, this particular one is my favorite for storytime. It is just the right length and it does a good job of clearly conveying the message of working for what you want and working together. At the end of the book, it does not stop at the hen eating the cake. It takes it a step further and shows the cat, dog, and mouse helping the hen the next time it is time to bake. The illustrations are friendly and colorful, too.

[Kaila Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute story with creative illustrations. I would read this to my class to teach them about helping others and participating in class. This story would also be good to read if there were students not wanting to help their classmates, by not having to directly tell them that they need to. Helping others is what makes our class run smoothly.

[Monica B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The classic story of the little red hen who couldn't get any help making the ingredients for the cake, but had no problem finding friends to help eat it.She taught them a lessonby saying I will share with those who helped me bake. So the next time she wanted to bake everyone wanted to help so they could also help eat it.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This variant, by Forest and Graber, is even more lame than the original, I think. Only after she gives in and lets them help to eat the cake does she make sure they've learned to share in the labor. I read it on openlibrary.org so you don't have to.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars-- Delightful illustrations that are both cute and vibrant breathe new life into a familiar fable.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this version best, thus far, and might use it in elementary storytime.

[Ashley Polansky]

Title: The Little Red Hen
Author: Heather Forest
Illustrator: Susan Gaber
Genre:Fable
Theme(s): Friends, sharing, helping
Opening line/sentence:
A little Red Hen lived in a house,
With a frisky dog, a cat, and a mouse.
Brief Book Summary:This book is about a Hen who wants to bake a cake, and her friends (the cat, dog, and mouse) don’t want to help. However, when they see and smell how delicious the cake looks, they all want a piece. The Hen shares, and next time the Hen wants to bake a cake, all her friends help her out.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1:School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2-In this rhyming version of the workhorse story, a black-and-white kitten, corgi pup, and shiny-eyed mouse are the reluctant friends of Little Red Hen, who seems to wink conspiratorially at readers, as if to say, "Here we go again!" While cat is distracted by a yarn ball, dog wrestles with a blue blanket, and mouse surveys a sort of scrapbook of mice of many lands (complete with tags in German, Korean, Hebrew, and French, among other languages), Hen goes about her business, planting, cutting, grinding, and baking all by herself. But here, unlike most accounts, there's a twist: the lazy animals learn their lesson and are given a chance to redeem themselves: "For after all is said and done, working together makes working fun." The rhyme scheme's a bit bumpy at times and will require skilled reading aloud, but Gaber's bold acrylic artwork and varied use of space-from full-bleed paintings to small, egg-shaped cameo vignettes-and the infectious, familiar refrain of "Not I," and, in this telling, "My, my-" make this an appealing storytime and readers'-theater selection.-Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CT Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Professional Recommendation/Review #2:Kirkus Reviews
Most rhyming retellings of traditional stories miss the mark and lose the original charm, but not in this case. Forest and Gaber's third collaboration bakes up a culinary concoction of cake (in place of bread) that is fresh, folksy and fun. Coincidentally, this is the second version published in 2006, the other one by Jerry Pinkney. As with all renditions, the animals vary. Gaber gives personality to the dog, a Corgi carrying a blue blanket, a black-and-white cat that plays with a string of yarn and a mouse who's always reading a book about mice in different languages. Her folk-art images cleverly use ovoid shapes as a motif throughout (portrait insets of the animals, for instance) and imaginatively depict how the hen carries out each step, e.g., she uses her beak to cut the wheat and to hold a wooden spoon to stir the batter. Forest's rhymes are a little more casual than Pinkney's. Refined or rustic? Libraries will want both. Who will help read and enjoy this story? Everyone. (Picture book/folktale. 4-7)

Response to Two Professional Reviews:Both reviews speak positively about the book. They discuss how the retelling of this book was done well, and Forest changed up the characters and items in an appropriate fashion. The images are interesting to look at to the reader, and the moral of the story is an important one.
Evaluation of Literary Elements:This book uses rhyming as a way to tell the story. The moral of the story is that helping makes work fun, and sharing is a nice thing to do with those that help. It explains what it is to be a good friend, and everyone should contribute to the group. The imagery of this book helps the reader to feel like they are there. We see when the Hen is hard at work, we see when the Hen is upset because she did it all by herself, and we see that the cake has a delicious smell.
Consideration of Instructional Application: This book can be used in many ways. It can be read aloud to a class to teach them about working together and how easy things can be when you put things together. We can do an activity where we try doing something on our own, and then with a group of people, so the children can see how much easier things are when you work together.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great easier version of an old fable...lazy friends and hard work don't necessarily go together. Wonderfully illustrated and the prose rhymes! Great version for the farm unit for my special school friends.

[Ellen Klock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fondly remember reading a little Golden Book featuring The Little Red Hen when I was quite young and the story has remained one of my favorites. My brothers were like the freeloaders in the Hen's life, always ready to take advantage of the rewards without putting any effort into the required work.

Here is Heather Forest's version in The Little Red Hen: An Old Fable written with a lilting rhyme, sure to please both reader and listener. In this story, the hen has gathered the wheat to make into a cake and her lazy housemates -the dog, cat, and mouse - prefer to play rather than assist her with all the steps required to complete the task. Of course, they are more than willing to eat the delicious result of the Little Red Hen's labor, but she refuses to share since they refused to help. We then see the three assisting in a future baking endeavor so they can then enjoy the tasty treat they have now earned.

What makes this classic tale so endearing is the adorable, humorous illustrations by Susan Gaber who captures the essence of these playful creatures. Instead of cartoonish characters, Gabor gives us realistic representations, which makes us chuckle as the hen attempts to do the chores necessary for baking a cake. The ending pictures with an egg shell on the top of the hen's head as she watches the others enjoying their dessert, is sure to bring a smile to the reader's lips.

Four stars and a thank you to Netgalley and August House Publishers for this ARC In exchange for an honest review. This review also appears on my blog, Gotta Read:
ellenk59.wordpress.com

[Samantha Ponting · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe this tale has been told many different times. This one is another story I think all ages should read and hear. These four friends all live together however only one of them wanted to put in the work to have a great cake. So the little red hen worked and worked and worked to grow the wheat needed to make the cake. No one helped the hen along the way until… the cake was made and was so delicious smelling then everyone wanted to help eat it. But the little hen was smart and told the dog, cat, and mouse that they had to help do the work if they wanted the cake.

This is a perfect tory to read before the class would begin a group project. Demonstrating how everyone has to put in the same amount of effort to be able to have a great, shared outcome. I also think the teacher could tie this story into a little science experiment. How long would it take and how much work did the little hen go through to get the wheat to grow and make the cake?

[Megan Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this a fairy tale that continues to entertain and teach a lesson to this day. In fact I just red this adaption of it to the kindergarten class I work with three days of the week. They learned from it about sharing and the advantages of working together, as well as several new vocabulary words. The Little Red Hen is a story about a red hen who finds some wheat and in this version wants to make a cake. She asks all the other farm animals (a dog, cake, mouse) to help her in the process of the cake but no one wants to help. However, when the cake is finished they all want to eat it. The hen tells them that she did everything alone and she thinks she should not share because no one helped her. It teaches a good lesson. I recommend it for preschool age level (3 or 4) and up.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is another story about a community feast (or sorts). In this version everyone shares the cake.
The hen says, "I will share my cake with those of you who help when there is work to do. For after all is said and done, working together makes working fun." And after that... When the little Red Hen wants to bake, everyone helps to make the cake.

The story demonstrates how helping is a kindness. Visit with the children about how they might help at home.

[Christina Bergstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this version of The Little Red Hen. I think that this version is more relevant to children these days because they see people bake cakes but not a lot of people bake bread anymore. I liked that the animals all lived in a house together because the children can relate the moral of the story to themselves and their own families. As a teacher, I would used this story to teach the importance of teamwork.

[Private Account · Rating 3 out of 5]

-She bakes a cake instead of bread--yay making kids think about and ask for cake every time you read it….
-This version rhymes so it's more fun for the kids
-At the end she says she will only share her cake with people who help when there is work to do--so at least she offers a solution.
-She's still passive aggressive though, sighing rather than clearly communicating her feelings and needs.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it three stars because my daughter liked it, but I prefer Galdone's version because the pictures tell more story. The paintings in this book are pretty but it doesn't look like the animals can actually perform any of the chores because they are so realistic. And cute.

[Friend of Pixie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. Logan checked it out because he liked the cute, realistic pix of the animals. The story though was a bit young and repetitive for him. He would have liked it more a couple years ago when he was 5.

[Max and Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked it because i learned helping is nice

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute retelling with cute illustrations.

themes: animals, cake, fairytales, food, hens, Little Red Hen

[Robynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

With large, brightly colored illustration this old tale is told again ending with the reformed friends participating in all steps included partaking of the end product.

[Connie D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable corgi puppy illustrations! Great hen expressions (and mouse and kitten poses)! All in all, very cleverly illustrated with a perfect ending.

[Kristen Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic, we loved the illustrations

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for my students during Corona lockdown. They loved it!

I read it again during summer school. That class loved it, too.