The Little Red Hen: An Old Fable Book

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

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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

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"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!