"The Little Red Hen"

The Little Red Hen
Edited by: Diane Muldrow
Illustrated by: J. P. Miller
Published in by in 1990 by Random House in NY
Genre: Traditional Literature--Animal Tale, Fable
Age: Grades K-2

Summary: The little red hen finds a grain of wheat and decides to plant and harvest it. She asks all of her friends if they will help her in each of the processes in making and harvesting the wheat and they all reject her invitation. Once the wheat is harvested, she decides to make a loaf of bread and again asks each of her friends if they will assist her, but again they refuse. Once all of the work is done and the bread comes out of the oven, she asks who will help her eat the bread and then everyone wants to partake of the food. She decides that since they have not helped her at all with the process of growing the wheat or making the bread that they should not be able to eat it, so she dines alone.

Response: I remember reading this book when I was little. It taught me that if I want the rewards for something I need to help with the process of getting to the reward as well. I think that children need to understand that things we receive in life come after hard work. This book teaches, since it is a fable, that we should help one another to be friendly and because it will make us feel good to have helped. The bread would have tasted a lot better to the hen than it would have to the others because she worked so hard for what she got out of that little grain of wheat. The rewards we get, though we should not focus on the reward, but rather the act of helping, are much sweeter when we have assisted others and we should not be rewarded for not helping others. The other animals we just having fun and relaxing while the hen worked in the hot sun to plant and reap the wheat for her bread. They were not even doing anything to help themselves! I believe that the lesson that this book teaches is very beneficial to young children.

The illustrations in this book are very lively, colorful, and realistic (in a personified way). The lines are well-defined and their is a good mixture of single and double-page spreads in this work to make the story flow well. The last page of the work shows has no words, but shows the hen in bad reading a book and looking very happy with her decision to not share her food since she did not receive any help from her friends in cultivating and harvesting her wheat.

Teaching Connections: Teachers could have students write about how they think the animals felt at the end of the book when the hen told then they could not have any bread because they did not help. Also, ask students to decide if they believe the hen's actions were just or unjust and explain why or why not.

(Image retrieved from http://www.pureimaginationtoys.com/prod_images_large/4BECF4FA-A155-30BF-DD39D36FA1037242.jpg on 4 April 2008)