The Little Red Hen

 

About Book

Title: The Little Red Hen
Author: N/A for this retell but its an old fable collected by Mary Mapes Dodge back in 1874
Illustrator: Berta & Elmer Hader; winners of Caldecott Award
Genre: Traditional Literature; Folktale, Fable, Fiction
Major Book Awards: No major awards for this book
Recommended Age Range: 3 to 7
Appropriate Grade Levels: Pre-k to 2nd grade

Summary

This book illustrated by Berta and Elmer Hader talks about a hardworking little red hen who does all the chores around the house, while her roommates frog and cat wouldn't want to do anything at all. The 3 were hungry since it was breakfast time, but the frog and cat didn't want to build the fire, bake a cake, and set the table, leaving the little red hen to once again do it instead. Once the tasks were complete frog and cat were ready to eat, but the little red hen had enough, taking the cake she baked and went out to eat it herself. As she was enjoying her breakfast out in the sun, a father fox came from behind her snatching into his bag. Although it took the little red hen some time, she was able to escape from being eaten by the hungry fox family. As she waits for safety from the fox, she finally flew home when it was dark. Once the little red hen returns, the frog and cat shows their regret [thinking she left] of never helping around the house. But once they saw the little red hen return, they both started to do some chores and promises to never be lazy again. 

Evaluation - Would I Incorporate this in the Classroom? 

I really liked this book as this was the first time that I've read this edition. With the other retells I'm used to the "longer" version, meaning the little red hen finally realizes by the end of the story that she'll eat the cake herself. Whereas in this story, the hen came to the realization a lot quicker. I also love that this book included other characters such as the fox family, whereas the other versions I've read specifically sticks to the animals in the house. I believe that I would incorporate this book in my classroom [kinder to 2nd grade] because the text is not  predictable about what will happen next, compared to the other versions. This will allow students to use their inferencing skills and make great guesses, while keeping them thinking and interested in the story. Something that we can do as a class is create a large story board focusing on main idea, supporting details, and characters from the book. A fun activity that the students can do is create their own little red hen like stories, where they can use other characters/animals of their choice. This book can also be used to teach children that you in fact "reap what you sow." This will tell students that you can't sit around all day and not work hard, but expects to have the same results or outcome from those who put in work, but instead you will face the consequences. This also teaches students to work together and collaborating, especially if they are working in groups, where one person should not be doing all the work.