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The Little Red Hen

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The little red hen lived with a goose, a cat, and a dog, all who were lazy. Would not do anything to help the hen. The hen planted, cut, and took care of the wheat she was growing, and even though she asked the goose, the cat, and the dog, she never got any help. When it was time for the baking of the bread that she made out of the wheat. The goose, the cat, and the dog will ready to help her eat it. But the hen has a little surprise for them.

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

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Lucinda McQueen

73 books7 followers

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
Profile Image for Manny.
Author 48 books16.2k followers
July 12, 2015
The Little Red Hen (academic version)

Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who worked at a university's computer science department. She was friends with a lazy dog, a sleepy cat, and a noisy yellow duck.

One day the little red hen had an idea. She thought it might make a good paper. The little red hen asked her friends, "Who will help me develop the idea?"

"Not I," barked the lazy dog.
"Not I," purred the sleepy cat.
"Not I," quacked the noisy yellow duck.

"Then I will," said the little red hen. So the little red hen developed the idea all by herself.

When the idea had been developed, the little red hen asked her friends, "Who will help me implement the code?"

"Not I," barked the lazy dog.
"Not I," purred the sleepy cat.
"Not I," quacked the noisy yellow duck.

"Then I will," said the little red hen. So the little red hen implemented the code all by herself.

When all the code had been written, the little red hen asked her friends, "Who will help me run the experiments?"

"Not I," barked the lazy dog.
"Not I," purred the sleepy cat.
"Not I," quacked the noisy yellow duck.

"Then I will," said the little red hen. So the little red hen ran the experiments all by herself.

When the experiments had all been run, the little red hen asked her friends, "Who will help me write the paper?"

"Not I," barked the lazy dog.
"Not I," purred the sleepy cat.
"Not I," quacked the noisy yellow duck.

"Then I will," said the little red hen. So the little red hen wrote the paper all by herself.

When the paper was finished, the tired little red hen asked her friends, "Who wants to have their name on it?"

"I do!" barked the lazy dog.
"I do!" purred the sleepy cat.
"I do!" quacked the noisy yellow duck.

"No!" said the little red hen. "I had the idea. I implemented the code. I ran the experiments. I wrote the paper. So I'm only going to put my name on it, and no one else's."

The little red hen was just about to submit her paper to a prestigious journal, and was feeling pretty good about herself, when the head of department intervened. "Hen," he said sternly, "what's this I hear about your paper? You need to learn to be a team player. Put more of your colleagues' names on it. Oh, and make sure that mine is first."

"Yes sir," said the little red hen humbly. And I'm told that only fifteen years later she did in fact get tenure.

THE END
Profile Image for Becky.
6,193 reviews304 followers
November 8, 2017
First sentence: Once upon a time there was a little red hen who shared her tiny cottage with a goose, a cat, and a dog.

Premise/plot: This is a traditional telling of The Little Red Hen illustrated by Lucinda McQueen.

My thoughts: I enjoyed this one. I like the illustrations very much. I particularly love the illustrations of the cat and the dog. The text is traditional. There are no big surprises with the text. The Little Red Hen doesn't have a change of heart, she doesn't decide to share with the cat and the dog.

Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 7 out of 10
1 review
June 19, 2023
Honestly a banger, the bread that the Little Red Hen looked amazing as a kid.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
35 reviews
Read
November 20, 2015
Summarize the book:
This is the classic story about a little red hen who works hard to make a loaf of bread. She asks her friends for help, but none of them are willing. When the bread is all done, her friends are happy to help her eat it, but she does not share with them because none of them helped her make it.


Identify the characteristics from the text that support the specific genre:
This traditional story is used to teach a moral lesson. That if you do not help, or put the work in, you will not reap the reward. Also, The story is very repetitious and easy to predict.

Identify specific concepts that could be integrated into the classroom:
Reading this story in the classroom, we can talk about the importance of jobs and what types of jobs the little red hen had to complete by herself. Children can talk about the different types of jobs they help their parents with at home.

Offer any other suggestions that would be useful regarding literary content, reading level, and other ways in which the book might be integrated.
You can also incorporate writing by having children write about whether or not they would help the little red hen and have them explain their reasoning. This is also a good story to have children practice their sequencing, what happens first, next and last.
695 reviews73 followers
March 12, 2015
-I don't care for the moral all that much, what a passive aggressive brat this hen is--as in--this book does not teach children to assert their needs and communicate their needs clearly so that they can get their needs met.
-This book is more entertaining than some of the other versions of this story so 1 1/2 stars!
Profile Image for Coralie.
713 reviews134 followers
September 19, 2019
This is one of my childhood favorites! I think my grandma is the first person who read this to me. Ooh! These pictures bring back such memories!

The Little Red Hen is beautifully illustrated. It's neat how the Goose is always seen with a different crowd of neighbors! Each illustration is not only beautiful, but it clearly exhibits the traits of the characters throughout the book. There are such fun animals that show up throughout the book in addition to our MCs, too! And maybe the style is just nostalgic for me, but I really do enjoy the artwork just as art.

I love the tone and feeling of the story and setting. It uses some older vocabulary and actions--such as threshing wheat--that brings me back to a time of simplicity. I can easily imagine myself in this Little Red Hen's world where she lives among the other animals and works all day long.

The Little Red Hen always seemed so cheerful to me. She bears her burdens well. The story exemplifies her diligence and shows kids that hard work pays off in the end while laziness, gossip, and vanity does not! The story has a good message, but it's also fun and simple for the little ones. I enjoy the different parts of the process and how Little Red Hen doesn't complain or gripe or bemoan her lot. Honestly, she put up with her roomies far longer than I would have! XD

This is one you could read to your kids or beginning readers could work up to. Again, it's one of my favorites, so I would recommend this one!
27 reviews2 followers
May 18, 2018
The classic tale of the Little Red Hen is known by many, but never gets old. The tale captures a Little Red Hen who works hard to make bread and asks her friends to help her. The dog, the pig and the cat all say "Not I" and refuse to help her and her chicks in the tedious work of making bread. Time and time again the hen asks who will help her and time and time again she completes the work herself. In the end, she asks who will help her eat the bread. Of course all her friends want to enjoy the delicious bread, but to their surprise they do not get to enjoy the bread. The Little Red Hen learns just want friendships should be about. Friendships are about togetherness, helpfulness and kindness. In this tale the friendship virtue that is portrayed is that friends are always there for you.
32 reviews
March 11, 2020
This primary-age folktale is a timeless story involving hard work, ambition, leadership, goal–setting, and cooking skills! Set on a farm with animal characters, the little red hen sets out to bake a cake from scratch. As she politely asks each farm friend for help with each stage of cake production, they answer with a lazy and resounding, “No.” Each time, she takes on the task herself and replies, “Then I will do it myself!” This repetition adds to the story, allowing young readers to follow along with the plot through repetition. Find out what happens at the end as you read this folktale that teaches young readers the value of hard work…as well as the rewards you may reap with your diligence.

Profile Image for Charlotte Stafford.
33 reviews1 follower
October 11, 2018
We are looking at this book in the Nursery setting I’m in. It’s a good book for engaging nursery children as there is a lot of repetition which helps the children pick the story up quicker and helps with engagement too. There is also quite a nice storyline behind it which helps children to understand that if you don’t help/ take part in something you can’t expect to reap the benefits of that work. In this edition there are three friends who the hen asks, the dog, cat and goose which helps simplify it for use of storytelling and story mapping. It also has a great link to science where you could explore planting seeds with the class or a cooking link though making bread with the class.
41 reviews
November 27, 2019
Little Red Hen's friends don't want to help her with the work of making bread but they sure do want to help eat it. But Little Red Hen teaches them all a lesson in not getting something you don't work for and only shares with her little chicks. While I like the importance of this lesson, I think it sometimes is more important to teach that we can share even when someone wasn't nice or didn't help with something.
44 reviews
October 18, 2017
This is a classic folk tale that has been told for years. This story is always good to read to young children to teach them a lesson through story telling. This story goes to show that you shouldn't ask for a hand out and that if you want something, then you must work to go get it. The basic motto of this story is if you don't do the work, then you won't get the prize!
42 reviews
October 12, 2021
Traditional folktale: This story is classic and timeless and the text is quite traditional. This story has a simple lesson about how one must work hard to be rewarded. The tale about the little red hen is appealing to all ages and presents values about leadership, growth, and accomplishment through anthromorphism.
Profile Image for Sean Harding.
5,841 reviews34 followers
November 17, 2024
McQueen Steves #1
The other version of the two versions of this tale I read, this one the housemates are cat, dog and not a mouse but a goose!
Anyway same message you reap what you sow, but this one did not have the ending message of the housemates now helping out around the place, it just left you hanging, the housemates either sulking, reformed or planning on bumping off the hen.
Profile Image for Cara Byrne.
3,866 reviews36 followers
April 22, 2022
Reflection from 4-year-old Zinnia at the end of this book: *Crying* I don't like this book. Why does the hen not share? Shouldn't she share and show kindness? How will the cat learn kindness if hen doesn't show it"

While the message of *you get what you put in* is a popular one, it didn't sway my reader from wanting to get rid of this book. A SPARK early literacy book.
Profile Image for Adam Barrett.
567 reviews
August 16, 2023
It's the classic tail of I did all the work, I get all the results. Pay attention folks.
For an interesting comparrison, look up Ronald Reagan's Little Red Hen that h did on his radio announcements back in the 70s.
Profile Image for Julia Bilderback.
204 reviews2 followers
June 1, 2025
This book teaches kids not to let others take advantage of them. Sharing is a complex thing and kids should not be forced into sharing if people are clearly taking advantage of them. Many other books set up kids to be hurt where this one teaches them to stand up for themselves.
Profile Image for Cheryl.
13.1k reviews483 followers
May 31, 2019
Extra details in words and pictures make this one of the better basic editions. No twist, no chicks.
Profile Image for Quinn.
43 reviews1 follower
April 24, 2020
Enqi said, "I like the ending, the little red hen eats by herself even her friends want it."
29 reviews
December 9, 2021
This book is amazing. I love the characters and illustrations! My family and I still say sayings from this book all the time.
Profile Image for Anita.
616 reviews1 follower
November 16, 2022
Got the audio version and it just isn’t effective without pictures.
5 reviews1 follower
September 18, 2013
This book is another one of my all-time favourite. The book begins with a little red hen who finds a grain of wheat and wants to plant it. She asks the assistance of her friends (cat, goose and dog) but the other animals all refuse to help her.
She then goes through all the stages from watering the seeds, cutting the wheat, taking it to the mill to turn into flour and making the bread. At each stage the little red hen requests te help of her friends but they all refuse. However when it comes to eating the bread, she asks them once again and the cat, goose and dog all want to eat the bread but the hen at this point refuses and eats the bread all by herself.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the book for the children is when each animal’s say ‘Not I…’ because it gives the class the chance to join in by saying ‘Not I’ along with the teacher. I believe this book is a great book to read to year 1 children as it can be made quite fun and inclusive for all. It can also be an effective tool for teaching strategies. For instance, the class teacher could emphasise on the importance of hard work, team work, reward system etc.
26 reviews
Read
March 21, 2016
Website / App - Title: MeeGenius – The Little Red Hen

In this story, a little red hen is trying to bake a loaf of bread. But before the hen can make the bread, she needs to grow and process the wheat. The hen gives her friends multiple opportunities to help her bake the bread but each time she asks for help, everyone just tells her no. When the hen finally bakes the bread, all of her friends want to eat some of it. The hen doesn’t share her bread with them though because nobody helped her make it; however, she says if they help next time then she will share with them.

This e-book could totally be used by a kid alone; a parent may have to help open the website or opening the e-book. The e-book does engage the reading further by having the option to have words read aloud. This would help the young readers when they’re having trouble knowing what a word says. The e-book is very easy to use; you can turn pages either by the two large arrows on the screen or by using the keyboard’s arrows. There is no multimedia present in this book. The font is basic, clear and easy to read.
Profile Image for Kelsey.
207 reviews2 followers
October 4, 2014
In this Spanish language version of The Little Red Hen, Little Red Hen finds some seeds. She plants, waters, harvests and mills the wheat. Then she bakes the bread. Goose, dog and cat all refused to help Little Red Hen do the work, but they want to eat the bread. Little Red Hen explains that since she did all the work she would eat the bread herself.

This book would be appropriate to share as a read aloud or an early reader with Spanish speakers between the ages of three and six. Children will enjoy the repetition in the story and will enjoy Little Red Hen's response to her lazy room mates. The book would be appropriate to develop narrative skills in young readers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews

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