The Little Red Hen

by Diane Muldrow, J.P. Miller (Illustrator)

Take a gander at his classic folk-tale about perseverance and merit, feature none-other than a hard-working little red hen.

Between Diane Muldrow's story and J.P. Miller's beloved graphic illustrations, the colorful farm animals will seem to jump right off the page—but they aren't jumping to help the Little Red Hen plant her wheat!

Young children (and adults!) will learn a valuable lesson about teamwork from this funny, favorite folktale.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction, Animals, Classics, Folklore, Fairy Tales

24 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Diane Muldrow grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She later attended Ohio University, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Magazine Journalism and a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts: Dance. After her graduation, Diane moved to New York. She spent several years performing as an actress and dancer in New York’s downtown avant-garde performance scene. She also danced in a performance at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and had her own one-woman shows.

Diane has also had a successful career in publishing, both as an editor and as an author. She has written over 100 books for children. Diane lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she enjoys trying new recipes and eating in local restaurants.

Reviews

[Ahmed Ejaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story which I had heard before but didn't know the name. Now I have properly read it.
I loved the story a lot. It is soo beautifully written.
You are probably familiar with the idea I think.

STORY IN SHORT
Every day the Little Red Hen collects worms for her children to feed. One day she accidentally finds a seed of wheat during her search for worms. She doesn't know what it is but she finds out that it is a seed of wheat and can be grown into a wheat and can be made into bread after.
On the barnyard where she lives, lives a Rat, a Pig and a Cat also. They have no responsibilities and waste their time all the day. While Red Hen has to feed her children.
Red Hen wants to grow the wheat. She asks her neighbours to help. But they are too lazy to help and prefer to sleep or waste time. So she do this all on her own. It is difficult for her to manage because of her children's responsibility but she manages to grow the wheat and makes the bread out of it. Now everybody on barnyard is ready to eat it. But whenever she asked everyone to help in growing the wheat or cutting the wheat or making the bread nobody was ready to help.
So in the end she eats the whole bread alone.

I think this story relates to our society. We want everything without hard work.
Overall the story is great, moral is great. Loved it!

Thanks for your attention! (^_^)


December 26, 2016

[John Charles Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I am supposed to share or not?? It's all so confusing??

[Nicola Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a child and have remembered it since due to the simple yet powerful message it portrays. The tale is set in a farmyard and is based on a hen and the other farmyard animals which surround her. One day the little red hen finds a grain of wheat and asks the other farmyard animals to help her with the various processes involved in growing it like the planting, harvesting and threshing of the grain and then the milling the wheat into flour and baking of the flour into bread. However each time she asks one of the animals for some help with the process they decline and the little hen receives no assistance. Eventually the little red hen sees the product of her process complete in that the bread is freshly baked and ready to eat. The little red hen then asks the other farmyard animals who will help her to eat her bread and all the previous non-participants volunteer. The little red hen declines their help in this task and eats it with her chicks leaving none for anyone else. This story shows the hen teaching the other animals a lesson in that its moral is that those who show no willingness to contribute to a product do not deserve to enjoy the product.

I enjoyed this book as I thought it was interesting seeing the process in relation to how bread is baked. I also enjoyed the imaginative farmyard setting and the dynamics and relationships which are created between the farmyard animals. I would recommend this book for reception and Year 1 and Year 2. I think it would be a useful resource to use in order to teach children about the importance of group work and helping others. It teaches children not to be selfish and greedy and shows them how they can receive rewards if they help out in the process of something. I think it teaches a very important life lesson in a simplistic, light-hearted and fun way.

[Tanique · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Little Red Hen finds some wheat seeds while searching in the fields. She decided to plant the seeds in order to make some bread for her farmyard friends. She needed help with the task involved in making the bread. She asked her friends “who will help me plant the seeds, who will help me cut down the wheat, who will help me grind the wheat and who will help me make the bread”. The Duck, Cat and Dog all said “not I” so the little Red Hen did all the work. When the bread was done and the animals smelt the appetizing aroma she finally said, “Who will eat the bread, I will” shouted her friends “I will” said the little Red Hen and so she did.

I first read this story as part of a farming topic to my year 2 class. It teaches a very important lesson, that you cannot benefit when you have not contributed to the labor. The famous saying applies “you reap what you sow”.

This book is best suited for early years and key stage one. The little Red Hen is an excellent book for children interaction. There are various animal characters the children could act out. The continuous repetition makes it easy for them to follow and participate.

This book can also be used as a literacy lesson as part of creative writing task. The children will be encouraged to use more adventurous verbs and adjectives. They could create their own characters and recreate this famous story. For example, instead of writing “not I “said the duck. They could say “not I” bellowed the ferocious dragon. It will be interesting to see the ideas and characters they come up with. This task will help them to use their imagination as well as increase their vocabulary. The aim is to get them into the practice of using more interesting vocabulary in their work.

[فاطِمة طه · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a colorful,funny and meaningful story.
Reading it was relaxing

[S A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. Borrowed it from my little nephew. Still enjoy it after lo those many years ago from my childhood.

[Courtnee (MB) Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Text to Self

There always comes a time where you have to tackle a challenge alone. In this story The Little Red Hen searched high and low for one of his friends to help him. He couldn’t get any volunteers everyone was too busy. This reminds me of how after high school my friends and I kind of went are separate ways and started doing different things. This didn’t mean that we weren’t friends anymore, but we were all caught up in our own day to day routines. Sometimes you have to stop and make time for the people that you care about.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is always a good idea to demonstrate to our children the spirit of giving and helping. This book shows the adverse effects from friends who aren't willing to help when asked. Helping others builds character and initially may be met with unseen rewards, in the book's case - some tasty bread. Had the friends known the outcome, they more than likely would have responded differently. Once a child is thanked or hugged when they help others they get to experience something possibly greater than a tangible reward - a sense of pride and wholesome goodness which is extremely gratifying. Each time I read this book I can't help but think of Capt. John Smith of Jamestown - "you don't work, you don't eat" and of course the bible has something to say about the subject in the same vein. This is just a great little book with simple writing, a great straightforward lesson and colorful illustrations!

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 stars - English Ebook

Picture book we read on road to vacation.
Humorus book.

[Sarah Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had this come up randomly as an early childhood memory, so naturally I had to read it😂

[Jade Singleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Little Red Hen tells the tale of a hen who lives with a pig, duck and a cat. The hen does most of the work around the house as the other animals are very lazy.

During the story, the hen decides to make a loaf of bread. At each stage of the bread-making process, she requests help from the other animals. Each animal refuses to help throughout the whole process as they are too busy doing what they enjoy doing, leaving then hen to do all of the work. Once the loaf is ready, the animals all want to eat it but because they didn't help to make it, Hen doesn't let them.

This story would be ideal to read out loud to a whole class of Reception or Year 1 children as it cleverly explains to children that it is important to help others and that there are consequences for not doing so. The story is not too long and is memorable.

[John Yelverton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really was not a fan of this Golden Book when I was growing up.

[wis · Rating 5 out of 5]

öncelikle bu çağa damga vuran şaheser niteliğindeki kitabı bana öneren sayın ralp'e tüm içtenliğimle teşekkür ediyorum. sanılanın aksine bu kitap, basit bir çocuk kitabı olmaktan fazlasıdır. içinde günümüz çağına derin eleştirilerde bulunan sayısız gizli gönderme içermektedir. ana karakterimiz red hen, baskıcı bir hükumetin altında yaşamını kendi imkanlarıyla sürdürmeye çalışan halktan biridir. bununla birlikte sleepy cat ise bu hükumetin ta kendisini temsil etmektedir. halkın sorunlarına göz yumar ve nankörlüğüyle onlara eziyet eder. lazy dog ise hükumetin koyunları olan halk kesimini temsil eder. çabalayan insana bunlar da göz yummuştur ve hükumetin izinden ilerlerler. onlar için artık kurtuluş yoktur. noisy duck ise hükumetin sadık kullarıdır. propagandalarıyla hükumetin ideolojisini desteklerler. red hen ise (kırmızı olması komünizmden kaynaklı) her şeye rağmen hayatta kalma mücadelesini kapitalizmi redderek, kendi ekini ekip biçerek sürdürmektedir. başka hiçbir hayvan ona yardım etmemiştir. en sonunda ise karnı doyan, o taze ekmeği, yani devrimin tatlı ödülünü, kazanan o olmuştur. anlayacağınız üzere bu kitap bir kapitalist, baskıcı toplum eleştirisidir. yazarı buradan tebrik ediyorum. genç beyinleri erkenden eğittiğiniz için şükran duyuyorum.

[Tazia Kirkpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main genre of this book is traditional literature, because is a classic folk-tale. If I was going to read this book to children, I could teach them that teamwork makes the dream work. I know that some students always want to work by themselves even if he/she is having a hard time doing the assignment. I would want my students to know that sometimes working together as a group will make your life easier, but have a clearer understanding of what is going on in the assignments. This book is a Wow book for me, because every class reads The Little Red Hen during their childhood. But sometimes reading the book once will be more likely to forget the whole lesson of the book itself. I decided to pick this book as a WOW book for me, because sometimes you or anyone needs a lesson about working together as a group.

A few of the literary devices the author included in this book was humor and hyperbole, because of the different ways the Little Red Hen decided on including her friends to help her with the process of everything. Plus when she was finally done, she ask her friends again who would want to help her eat the bread and after she heard everyone answer, the little red hen stated no, I will just eat it all, and she did. This gives us the idea that sometimes when your friends ask for help mean that he/she really needs help and not helping means that the end results won’t be yours but your friends.

I would consider this book to be an example of anti-bias because it shows talking animals, when in reality there is no just thing as talking animals. Plus, little children reading this book won’t understand this format and will not understand that this is a human life lesson not an animal life lesson.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite tales. In fact, I created a Listopia of all the versions I could find (please add to it if you know any others). This particular 'classic' adaptation has *four* other animals refusing to help. And a fairly long list of steps all the way from planting the wheat. The Hen eats the bread herself (good for her!); she has no chicks.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect little, repetitive moral tale. The hen’s attitude at the end is the perfect cherry on top.

Mother Tongue notes: The reading is very simple, and the repetition makes it possible for early readers to join in once the story gets started. A helpful format for a class with several lower reading levels. Have the strongest readers begin.

[Rev. Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still a great book! Read it to my little nephew the other day.

[Sean Keating · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diane Muldrow shines in this novel about opposing the existing hierarchical structure in place by the welfare queens who want to profit off of the Little Red Hen’s labor. What a gritty read.

[S.A. Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read
Cute story of the little red hen and the unhelpful Duck, Goose, Cat and Pig. Enjoyed looking at and reading it.

[Joy Reinbold · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was far more moralistic than I remember it being as a kid. Still a wonderful and enduring children's book.

[Geneva Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember hearing this fairy tale as a child and it still sends a valuable message today. The Little red hen picks up a grain of wheat and while the pig, the duck and the cat don't see its value, the hen asks who will plant it? They all answer "not I." and she plants the grain of wheat, tends it and harvests it, all the while the pig, cat and duck say "not I" and want nothing to do with any of the work. The Hen bakes bread with the wheat she has harvested and the pig, cat and duck smell it and when the hen asks "Who will eat the bread?" they all come running saying " I will!" since they did not want to help plant it, tend it ,harvest it or bake it the hen tells them all no and eats it all herself.


in the classroom:

This story has many important lessons. It teaches the lesson that hard work pays off. Children can learn to take initiative and also self reliance, as the hen took it upon herself to do the work and sometimes in life we have to do that. It also can teach children about fairness. It is not fair for someone to put all the work into something while others do nothing, and everyone reap the same rewards. You can do an activity where everyone helps in the process of bread making.

[Hend Alalwani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal reaction:
I loved this story and I really enjoyed reading it. I like how the Red Hen gave several chances for her friends to help her but they refused. I do not like how the Duck, the Goose, the Cat, and the Big did not help the Red Hen to plant the grain of wheat, reap it, carry it, and dough, but when was the time to eat it, they came.

Read aloud for children from K to three years old. It helps them learn about types of animals like Duck, Goose, Cat, and the Big. Also, they will learn how to plant wheat and make bread from it, and what materials they need to plant it.

Independent reading:

Children on second and third grades will read it by themselves. They will able to learn that people should help each other, and nothing come easily without working hard on it.

The language is simple and there are lots of words repeating like “ Not I, and who will help me.” The illustrations are beautiful, and the way that characters dressed.

[Rebekah]

The Little Red Hen is a classic children's book which teaches many life lessons. There is no moral of the story stated in the book; but the principles come across as the story unfolds. This industrious fowl finds a grain of wheat and immediately wants to plant it. She asks if any of her friends would like to help her in this endeavor. Everyone declines to assist her in the work. The same group refuses to aid her as she processes the grain through various stages of development. When the time comes to eat the fruit of her labors, everyone wants to participate at that point in the process. However, those who did not work, were not allowed to reap the rewards of her efforts. Work ethic, responsibility, and reaping what has been sown earlier are all lessons which are taught in this short story.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colorful pictures, barnyard animals and rhythm, just what a one-year-old loves.

A life lesson, just what a grandma loves.

[Sally Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is suitable for early years and Key Stage 1 children. The story follows Little Red Hen and her quest to make bread without the help of her lazy friends, the rat, the cat and the pig. I really enjoyed reading this book to my class. Children were engaged throughout the story, and loved acting out the different animals in the story. The story is good for topics such as plants and growing. The children especially liked the ending of the story, where the Hen, after all her hard work eats the bread ‘all by herself!’ The book has a good morale, and shows children how hard work does pay off.

[Zee Zahri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book worked very well for me in a reception class, with the children really being able to understand that the way the other characters refused to help the little red hen was wrong. A fantastic story for early years debating as some children will believe the little red hen should have shared with the others, while other children will vehemently argue the point that she should not have to as no one helped her to make it in the first place. Beautiful illustrations and a fun read for adults and children.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first LIttle Golden Book I bought for my now five-year-old son. One of the reasons I bought it because I remembered using it for a story time at the library. Of all the versions of The Little Red Hen, this one really shows how much work the hen did between the finding of the grain of wheat and the eating of the bread. Even my son understands the injustice of the hen doing all the work, and the other animals expecting to eat the bread.

The other reason I bought it was for the delightfully timeless illustrations.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic capitalist fable, only slightly altered from the original. Too bad my daughter doesn't seem to understand why the hen is "being mean" and "not sharing." However, this has remained one of her most requested stories for a year, and she loves to say all of the "Not I" parts, and she is slowly starting to get the point.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the traditional story where the animals don't help the hen and therefore she eats the bread all by herself. I personally don't like this ending, but it made for a good discussion. My son and I talked about whether the hen was selfish or not, and why the other animals couldn't eat the bread.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son read a readers' theater version as his homework tonight and it is a great story for young readers to practice reading with expression. And of course, the ending always causes some giggles but the message is so true...you can't expect to get anything good if you don't put in the work to make the good thing happen.